slaten.¹

Brit.

/sleɪt/, U.S.

/sleɪt/

Forms: Also (chiefly northern and Scottish) Middle English– sclate (Middle English sclathe), sklate (1800s sklet); Middle English–1800s sclait (1500s sclayt), Middle English sklaytt, 1500s sklaitt, 1500s–1800s sklait.

Etymology: < Old French esclate (feminine), in the same sense as esclat (masculine), whence slat n.¹ After c1630 the forms with scl-, skl- are exclusively northern and Scottish. The earliest example of the form occurs in sense 3, but the development of the senses must have been the same as in slat n.¹

a. A thin, usually rectangular, piece of certain varieties of stone which split readily into laminæ (see 4), used especially for the purpose of covering the roofs of buildings.Also frequently called a roofing-slate, and with distinctive premodifiers, as blue, green, grey, white slate(s). For the older Scottish use of the word see skaillie n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > [noun] > laminated stone

slat-stone1391

slate-stonec1450

slate1455

slate1653

tilestone1668

shivera1728

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > stone of the nature of slate > for roofing > piece of

slatc1384

slate1455

stone-slate1530

roof slate1784

scantle1850

α.

1455 Anc. Cal. Rec. Dublin (1889) 284 Sclatys, bordes, gottorys, schall ly upon the key be the spase of xx. dayes.

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 214 As a sclate fell of a hous, and slewe a man.

c1540 A. Borde Bk. for to Lerne B ij Many tyles or sklates.

1584 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 678 Becaus thair is sklaittis, lyme, sand and tymmer to be transportit..to his said palice.

1832 J. D. Carrick in Whistle-Binkie 1st Ser. 62 Some o' them gaed ower the sklates, As weel's your dainty dow.

β. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 706/1 I sclate a house with stone slates.1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Civ^v/2 A Slate, tyle, tegula..later.1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 202 The roofe is couered with certaine blacke stones or slates.1662 B. Gerbier Brief Disc. Princ. Building 36 The Roof..should be covered either with Lead or blew Slates.1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. xix. 69 A Slate fell upon her Head from the Top of an House.1745 Season. Advice Protestants 17 The Houses, that were formerly in good Repair, and cover'd with Slates, decay.1811 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire I. 428 At Sheffield these white and grey Slates are exclusively used.1841 G. P. R. James Brigand xix The house was built of cold grey stone, with a roof of slates.1889 H. C. Seddon Builder's Work (ed. 2) 231 Ordinary roofing slates are sold by the number... Some of the largest sized slates are..sold by the ton, and hence are called ton slates or weight slates.

b. A slab of slate, †or other stony substance; a laminated rock.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate > slab of

slate1601

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xvii. viii. 506 It [the Columbine marl] will resolve and cleave into most thin slates or flakes.

1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 23 The Irish Ocean, a sea so shallow, and so full of rocks and slates.

1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 500 He [the slater] supplies sawn slates for shelving in larders and dairies.

c. to have a slate loose or off, to be weak in intellect. (Cf. tile n.¹)

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > be intellectually weak [verb (intransitive)]

to have a want1823

to have a slate loose or off1854

1854 J. E. Millais Let. 25 May in M. Lutyens Millais & Ruskins (1967) 216 Ruskin..is certainly mad or has a slate loose.

1857 W. Collins Dead Secret I. iii. i. 133 The college tutor..facetiously likened his head to a roof, and said there was a slate loosened in it.]

1860 Slang Dict. 218 He has a slate loose.

1862 Athenæum 27 Sept. 397 On too good terms with himself to think that..there is a ‘loose slate’, in his intellectual covering.

1867 R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower II. xvi. 240 You must have a slate off this morning, Nell!

d. A flat piece or plate of some other material used for the same purpose as a roofing-slate.

ΚΠ

1887 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) 87 ‘Glass slates’ in roofing to lofts are sometimes used to admit light.

1887 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) 89 Slating with very strong zinc slates.

1893 Spons' Mechanic's Own Bk. (ed. 4) 617 Shingles, or wooden slates, are made from hard wood.

a. A tablet of slate, usually framed in wood, used for writing on.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > slate > [noun]

slatc1390

slatea1500

grapholite1794

a1500 (?1397) G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Digby 72) (1872) ii. Suppl. §45. 56 Take alle the signes,..& wryte hem in þy slate.

a1500 (?1397) G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Digby 72) (1872) ii. Suppl. §44. 54 Consider thy rote furst,..& entere hit in-to thy slate.

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxviii. sig. Hiv Ye must search Angles of position agayne, and marke them in the table or slate.

1656 A. Cowley Davideis i. 18 in Poems Letters..painfully engrav'd in thin wrought plates, Some cut in wood, some lightlier trac'd on slates.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 112 A Board plastered over, which with Cotton they wipe out, when full, as we do from Slates or Table-Books.

1752 S. Foote Taste i. 2 I can't remember her Name, but 'tis upon the Slate.

1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. i. iii. 39 We proceed in the same manner a person would who should undertake to draw any plan assigned him upon a slate.

1826 D. Booth Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 53 We will now work a brewing according to the example in the instructions, on a slate.

1874 W. S. Jevons Princ. Sci. (1900) 96 I have used a slate of this kind, which I call a Logical Slate, for more than twelve years.

in extended use.1897 Army & Navy Stores List 750 Opal Slates in Leather Frame.1897 Army & Navy Stores List 757 Porcelain Menu Slate.

b. figurative. A record of any kind concerning or against a person; esp. in a clean slate. Also in phrases to wipe (off) the slate, to wipe the slate clean: to obliterate or cancel a record, usually of a debt, misdemeanour, etc.; hence loosely, to make a fresh start.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > record > [noun] > a record > personal

slate1868

the mind > mental capacity > memory > effacement, obliteration > efface, obliterate [verb (transitive)]

dilghec897

scrape1303

washc1380

fade1398

razea1425

out-razec1425

racec1450

enrasea1492

stramp1535

wipe1535

facec1540

cancel1559

outblot1573

to wash out1580

to blur out1581

obliterate1607

efface1611

dislimna1616

excerebrate1621

demark1655

rufflea1680

erase1695

scrub1828

overscore1834

elide1846

trash1859

to wipe (off) the slate1921

1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead ii. ii He had passed the wet sponge over the slate containing any records of his early life.

1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Sept. 9/1 I can conceive nothing more desirable in the interests of these embarrassed tenants than that they should have a clean slate.

1899 R. Kipling Absent-minded Beggar i He is out on active service, wiping something off a slate.

1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah p. lxix We are helpless before a slate scrawled with figures of National Debts..the sensible thing to do is to wipe the slate and let the wrangling States distribute what they can spare.

1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means iv. 27 Where violence is pushed to its limits and the victims are totally exterminated, the slate is wiped clean and the perpetrators of violence are free to begin afresh on their own account.

1960 Times 2 Mar. 14/1 Tactically, Wolves must bank on all-out attack to wipe the slate clean.

1973 Times 28 Apr. 11/4 What I try to do each year is to wipe the slate clean. ‘Now what can I do this year?’

c. Originally and chiefly North American. A list of candidates proposed for election or appointment to an official (esp. political) post; also transferred, the group of candidates so nominated; a group of candidates (occasionally also of electors) with a set of shared political views.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates

lites1533

ticket1711

party ticket1800

slate1842

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates > group of candidates > with shared political views

slate1952

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates > group of candidates

slate1970

1842 N.Y. Tribune 24 Jan. 3/1 The Regency are obliged to put them on the slate to be rid of them, and then rub names out at leisure.

1877 N.Y. Tribune 1 Mar. (Farmer) The facts about the latest Cabinet slate..are interesting as showing..the course of President Hayes in choosing his advisers.

1884 American 8 232 In dictated nominations, in the making of ‘slates’ for obedient party acceptance.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lxiii. 457 Some leading man..sketches out an allotment of places; and when this allotment has been worked out fully, it results in a Slate, i.e. a complete draft list of candidates to be proposed for the various offices.

1913 R. M. La Follette Autobiogr. 12 Well, the fraternities made their slate and put it through.

1931 W. G. McAdoo Crowded Years xii. 182 The Governor had Brandeis on the slate as Secretary of Commerce.

1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 May 2/2 There were..nine contests between slates of delegates pledged to Taft and slates pledged to Eisenhower.

1963 Economist 2 Nov. 18/1 Electors were originally independent agents, not bound to any party. However, ‘slates’ of electors soon appeared, usually, though not always, pledged..to one or other of the parties.

1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 3/2 The Eglinton Federal Liberal Association last night..selected a complete slate of delegates pledged to vote for Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp at the national Liberal leadership convention.

1970 New Yorker 15 Aug. 78/3 Only three slates, or thirty candidates, can be elected.

1972 R. Thomas Porkchoppers (1974) xxvi. 230 Cubbin voted without hesitation for himself and his slate.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 12 June 2/2 Uncommitted slates led the voting in the Democratic Presidential primary.

1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 19/3 Eliav..who abandoned Labor in 1975, led a socialist and dovish slate (‘Sheli’) in this election.

1979 Observer 27 May 9/2 It was possible to see lists—Labour back~benchers are great ones for lists—giving the ‘slates’ of the Tribune and Manifesto Groups for the Shadow Cabinet elections.

d. A written record of a debt made when purchase of goods is allowed on credit. Also figurative, esp. in on the slate, on account. (See also quot. 1909.)

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > solvency > [adverb] > on credit

to fristc1440

on (also upon, of) trust1509

on (also upon) credit1560

in, upon, on (the) score1568

on time1628

on or upon (the) tick1642

upon the tally1807

on the nod1882

on the slate1909

on the cuff1927

on the knocker1934

society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > an account or reckoning

accountc1300

taila1325

laya1400

tale1401

reckoningc1405

tailye1497

accounterc1503

lawing1535

note1587

post1604

chalking1613

tally1614

computus1631

tick1681

tab1889

slate1909

1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 188/1 On the slate (Lower Peoples'), written up against you—from the credit~slate kept in chandlers' shops.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 358 Lose your customers that way. Pubs do. Fellows run up a bill on the slate and then slinking around the back streets into somewhere else.

1954 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Oct. 1/5 [London] Many food stores are putting the bills ‘on the slate’ until the men go back to work.

1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 114 The Site Committee..made history by going on the slate and ticking up a few rounds of drinks.

1973 J. Marks Mick Jagger (1974) 39 He let them run a slate because they seemed like good sorts.

1980 Observer 7 Dec. 3/3 He knew of pharmacists who had been asked to put the bill ‘on the slate’ by families needing four or five prescriptions.

3. Roofing-slates collectively, or the material from which these are made.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > stone of the nature of slate > for roofing

slatea1340

slatc1400

slating1815

α.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter civ. 23 Þai..did treson [to the Israelites] forto less þaim in werke of mortere and sclate.

1392 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 116 In sal. Simonis Sklater cooperantis et ponentis lapides de sklate.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cxxxi. f. lxvii He buylded a royall Mynstre of Lyme and stoone and couered it with platis of Syluer in stede of Sclate or Leade.

1571 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1882) I. 309 Ten lode of sclait.

β. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 720/2 I slate a house, I cover it with slate.1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. xi. f. 159 Theyr houses are..couered with slate or other stone.1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias i. xl. 94 A greate citie, consisting of houses made of Earth, and couered ouer with broade stone or slate.a1640 T. Risdon Chorogr. Surv. Devon (1811) (modernized text) 8 Of late days quarries of slate are found out, wherewith they cover houses.?1677 S. Primatt City & Covntry Purchaser & Builder 72 A Penthouse..covered with Tyles, Lead or Slate.1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Slating Roofs cover'd with Slate, must be first Boarded over.1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 181/2 Houses of respectable appearance, roofed with slate.

a. An argillaceous rock of sedimentary origin, the different varieties of which have the common property of splitting readily into thin plates.Many varieties are distinguished, esp. in Geology, by special terms, as clay, hornblende, mica, talc slate.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > [noun] > laminated stone

slat-stone1391

slate-stonec1450

slate1455

slate1653

tilestone1668

shivera1728

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate

slate-stone1392

slat1605

slate1653

shindle1669

shiffer1683

shelf1849

shale-stone1880

1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures (1663) 254 The extream trouble his people were at in planting their ladders against the walls by reason of their bad scituation which was all of Slate.

1676 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 11 764 There is also a sort of Mineral we call a Slate, which is partly Coal, partly Alum-stone, partly Marcasite, which being laid up in heaps and burnt, are used for hardening the Coal-ways.

1738 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The same impressions are also frequently found on other substances, as on the black slate that lies over veins of coals.

1795 R. Kirwan Elem. Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 19 This [slaty alum] is the stone called Black Slate, celebrated among the vulgar for its medicinal properties.

1818 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory (ed. 2) ii. 24 The ore is first calcined with a low heat, so as to destroy the bituminous matter of the slate.

1852 C. Lyell Elem. Geol. (ed. 4) 266 The slate of Stonesfield..is a slightly oolitic shelly limestone.

1872 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 254 The quartz is divided by a horse of slate into two parts.

b. With a and plural. A kind or variety of slaty rock.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate > type of

slate1704

Skiddaw slate1832

1704 Dict. Rusticum (at cited word) Some Directions..whereby the..lasting Goodness of any Slate may be Experimented.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Besides the Blue Slate, we have in England a Greyish Slate, call'd also Horsham Stone.

1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 171/2 Undulations on slates and sandstones of every geological age.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. App. 430 The cleavage of slates is therefore not a question of stratification.

1903 J. E. Marr Agric. Geol. 234 Mudstones which, owing to the subsequent impress of cleavage, usually occur as slates.

5. A bluish-grey colour like that of slate.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > bluish grey

blue-grey1478

slate-grey1794

slate-colour1799

slate1813

gunmetal1905

battleship grey1916

1813 J. Austen Let. 16 Sept. (1995) 223 There was but 2 y^d & a q^r of the dark slate in the Shop, but the Man promised to match it.

1882 W. Crookes Dyeing & Tissue-printing 144 Light Slate.

1882 W. Crookes Dyeing & Tissue-printing 145 Slate on Cotton Wool.

1897 Westm. Gaz. 12 Nov. 1/3 Far to the south, where the slate of the sea and the grey of the sky wove together.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

a. With the senses ‘made or consisting of slate’, ‘having the character of slate’.

slate-band n.

ΚΠ

1810 S. Smith Agric. Surv. Galloway 20 (note) The proper schistus,..called by English miners shiver, and in Galloway slate-band.

1810 S. Smith Agric. Surv. Galloway 21 Strata of a soft shivering argillaceous stone, which..is called in the country slate-band.

slate-bed n.

ΚΠ

1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall vi. 184 The slate-beds in the valley between Milton and Maristow.

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 348/2 A billiard-table with a slate-bed.

slate-belt n.

ΚΠ

1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) i. 458 On the eastern or slate belt great activity is manifested. Most of the mines are situated near the contact of the slate and the granite.

slate-book n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-book, two or more slabs of framed slate bound together for writing on.

slate-clay n.

ΚΠ

1804 R. Jameson Min. I. 312 Slate clay, shale.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 962 The strata of this section contain numerous varieties of..slate-clay.

slate-coal n.

ΚΠ

1805 R. Jameson Syst. Mineral. II. 72 Slate-Coal... Colour intermediate between velvet-black and dark greyish-black.

1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 225 Slate Coal, a hard, dull variety of coal, not unlike Cannel.

slate marl n. a consolidated marl.

ΚΠ

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 87 Stone, Slate, or Flag-marle, which is a kind of a soft Stone..of a blue or bluish Colour.

1772 J. Ainslie in A. Hunter et al. Georgical Ess. (new ed.) III. ii. 41 A drachm of a friable slate-marle afforded a residuum of eighteen grains of yellow sand.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 238 Where this sort of marle has a thin laminated structure.., it is frequently denominated slate marle.

slate mica n.

ΚΠ

1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 344 The aggregate of quartz and mica..is, when it is slaty, called slate mica, or shistose mica, or slaty mica.

slate-rock n.

ΚΠ

1793 W. Marshall Minutes in Rural Econ. W. Eng. (1796) II. 344 The slate-rock waters of this District are superior to those of any others.

1813 S. T. Coleridge Remorse (ed. 2) ii. i. 25 There where the smooth high wall of slate-rock glitters.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. App. 432 Fossil shells are found in these slate-rocks.

slate roof n.

ΚΠ

1578–9 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. III. 99 [They] enterit in the said hous,..and thaireftir tuke doun the sklait ruife.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/1 The pitch of a slate roof should not be less than 1 in h[e]ight to 4 of length.

slate-shivers n.

ΚΠ

1821 W. Scott Kenilworth II. viii. 211 A devil's ally, that can change slate-shivers into Spanish dollars.

slate slab n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate slab, a sheet or plate of slate.

slate-spar n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > carbonates > [noun] > hexagonal > calcite > varieties

alabasterc1384

agarica1400

alabastrites1582

alabastrite1592

Iceland crystal1673

agaric mineral1728

milk of the moon1728

Iceland spar1771

argentine1795

rock milk1804

slate-spar1804

schieferspar1807

calc-spar1822

wonderstone1824

manganocalcite1852

neotype1854

hislopite1859

aphrite1868

thinolite1879

moonmilk1885

vaterite1913

micrite1959

1804 R. Jameson Min. I. 508 Slate Spar... Its colour is milk, greenish and reddish white.

1858 J. Nicol Elements Mineral. 203 Slate spar, thin, lamellar,..with a shining white pearly lustre and greasy feel.

slate-stratum n.

ΚΠ

1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 65 The character and features of this slate-stratum.

slate-system n.

ΚΠ

1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 81 The slate-system [of rocks] has obtained its full share of such attention.

slate tile n.

ΚΠ

1531 in J. Gairdner Lett. & Papers Henry VIII (1880) V. 183 Payment to John Cornelis of Handwarp, for..making of slate tyle.

1751 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer at Padstow The trade in slate tiles.

slatework n.

ΚΠ

1867 G. M. Musgrave Nooks & Corners Old France II. 6 A lofty domicile..exhibiting laths, timbering and slatework.

b. Instrumental, as slate-floored, slate-formed, slate-hung, slate-pointed, slate-roofed, slate-spired, slate-strewn; slate-thatcher.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [adjective] > type of roof

thatched1467

side?a1475

thacked1530

vaulted1552

shingleda1563

slated1611

unshingled1611

high-pitch1614

slate-pointed1648

killesed1649

hipped1663

pantiledc1672

overpitched1677

underpitched1677

low-pitcheda1684

pitched1773

theeked1792

peaked1797

shingle1810

thackless1810

choppered1818

wagon-headed1823

unlathed1854

break-back1856

shingly1857

saddleback1861

scaled1862

gambrelled1863

thatchy1864

weather-slated1870

thatchless1882

weather-tiled1887

monopitch1941

tile-roofed1962

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > floor > [adjective] > floored > in specific manner

planchered1440

well-floored1555

slate-floored1648

flaggeda1661

quarried1842

flagstoned1885

brick-barred1888

brick-floored1898

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [adjective] > roofed > in specific manner > specific

coupledc1384

thatched1467

stone-heled1578

slate-hung1648

slate-roofed1648

raftered1670

rafted1739

stob-thatched1792

reeded1819

hip-roofed1821

wagon-vaulted1835

span-roofed1842

saddle-backed1853

thatchy1864

tortoise-roofed1886

mansarded1890

monopitch1961

skillion-roofed1967

1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Schalie-decker, a Slate-thatcher, or Coverer.

1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 235 The thin slate-formed argillaceous strata of the coal metals.

1862 H. Marryat One Year in Sweden I. 238 Leckö Slott with her grand slate-spired towers.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xxv. 251 I had crossed more than one crest of the slate-strewn ranges.

1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel iv. 292 The shining gray slate-pointed roofs of Quebec.

1948 J. Betjeman Sel. Poems 116 The slate-hung, goodly-builded house.

1960 Times 26 Mar. 9/5 Indeed, everything here recalls France—the squares and cobbled streets, the whitewashed walls and dormered slate-pointed houses.

1978 J. L. Hensley Killing in Gold (1979) xi. 151 The slate-floored entrance hall.

1981 V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell xi. 151 A whitewashed slate-roofed village.

c. Objective.

(a) slate-cutter, slate-maker, slate-picker, etc.

ΚΠ

1780 Westm. Mag. Suppl. 730/1 Slate-mak [er] .

1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 703/1 The slate-workers of Stonesfield.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/2 Slate-cutter, a machine for cutting the edges of roofing or other slates.

(b) slate-cutting, slate-dressing, etc.

ΚΠ

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 329 The stone slag, or copper cinder, resulting from the slate-smelting.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/2 Slate-beveling, -cutting, -making, -trimming, Machine.

1894 Daily News 13 June 5/2 Collecting data as to the methods of slate-dressing.

(a) With names of colours, as slate-blue, slate-brown, slate-grey.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > grayish blue

persec1387

perse-blue1414

venet colourc1425

watercoloura1450

grey-blue1648

slate-blue1794

the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > bluish grey

blue-grey1478

slate-grey1794

slate-colour1799

slate1813

gunmetal1905

battleship grey1916

the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [adjective] > bluish grey

glawke1412

perse-blue1414

waterisha1425

blunket1488

bluish-grey1578

blue-grey1590

water1592

slate-grey1794

slate-coloured1801

griseous1819

neutral1821

slaty1822

schistous1858

slatish1860

powder-blue-grey1952

(a)

1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 152 Leek green, or slate blue.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 619 For several other shades as..slate-gray.

1871 C. Kingsley At Last I. vii. 234 A slate-blue heron rose lazily off a dead bough.

1883 Cent. Mag. Sept. 729 Latticed porticoes, and slate-brown paint.

1937 Discovery Dec. 384/2 Its black or slate-grey body.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov. 21 (advt.) Generously cut in quality wool gabardine—Mid-Fawn, Slate Grey or Lovat.

(b) Also attributive, of a slate colour.

ΚΠ

1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 233 Tail..entirely black, or with only a slight slate tipping.

1889 H. Saunders Man. Brit. Birds 646 The adult in summer has a slate or greyish-black hood.

C2.

a. Miscellaneous and special combinations.

slate-like adj.

ΚΠ

1898 Appletons' Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 523 Impressions..have been left upon slatelike rocks.

slate-merchant n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-merchant, an importer or wholesale dealer in slates.

slate-mine n.

ΚΠ

1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Schalie-myne, a Slate-mine.

slate-pit n.

ΚΠ

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ardoisiere, a slate-pit, slate quarrey.

slate-quarry n.

ΚΠ

1829 W. Scott Black Dwarf Introd., in Tales of my Landlord (new ed.) I. p. xvii He was the son of a labourer in the slate-quarries of Stobo.

1846 Ld. Tennyson Golden Year in Poems (ed. 4) II. 91 I heard them blast The steep slate-quarry.

slate-axe n. (see quots.).

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > [noun] > slating equipment

ripper1823

slate-knife1825

slate-axe1828

1828–32 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Slate-ax, a mattock..used in slating.

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-axe, a mattock for shaping slates for roofing, and making holes in them to fasten them to the roof.

slate-board n.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > other parts of roof

water1703

flanching1833

slate-boarding1833

slate-board1842

break-back1856

parapet line1886

sunroof1889

overcloak1896

roof jack1913

1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 242/2 The slate-boards are supported by five purlins 4 ft. apart.

slate-boarding n. (see quot. 1833).

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > other parts of roof

water1703

flanching1833

slate-boarding1833

slate-board1842

break-back1856

parapet line1886

sunroof1889

overcloak1896

roof jack1913

1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. Gloss. Index 1130/2 Slate-boarding, boards placed on the roof, on which to nail the slates.

slate club n. a sharing-out club, whose accounts are nominally kept on a slate.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > financial dealings > banking > [noun] > savings, building, or friendly societies

box club1728

building-society1848

mutual1869

slate club1888

susu1919

savings and loan1962

thrift1981

thrift institution1982

merry-go-round1989

1888 Daily News 27 Dec. 7/5 He would pay her in the evening, as he was in a slate club.

1891 J. F. Wilkinson Mutual Thrift 60 Taking London, we have a large number of old dividing clubs located in the East End, and known as ‘Birmingham societies’ or ‘Slate clubs’.

slate-frame n. (see quot. 1858).

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-frame, the narrow wood border for a writing-slate or slate-book.

slate-galiot n. a vessel carrying slates.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > cargo vessel > [noun] > carrying other cargoes

stone-boatc1336

ballast boat1665

mast ship1666

luggage-boat1720

hide-drogher1841

oil ship1851

blubber-boat1884

slate-galiot1887

nitre ship1896

treasure-galleon1898

treasure-ship1900

1887 E. Dowden Life Shelley I. v. 235 When at length they set sail in a slate-galiot, a storm whirled them quite up to the north of Ireland.

slate house n. Scottish a house with a slated roof.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > house of specific material or construction

thatch-house1521

slate house1554

thack housec1600

frame house1627

log-house1662

straw1665

thatch1693

tin-house1798

fog house1799

leaf house1811

rock house1818

black house1819

blockhouse1821

white house1824

slab-and-bark house1826

brown house1845

brush house1854

soddy1877

hurdle-housea1879

bottle house1913

stucco1922

prefab1942

Portal house1944

Airey1945

yali1962

1554 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 198 De domo tegulata, vulgo ane sklait hous.

1775 M. J. Armstrong Compan. Map of Peebles 108 A wild and solitary site for a slate house, yet proper for a hunting seat.

† slate-incense n. Obsolete ? (cf. note to slat n.¹).

ΚΠ

1470–1 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 217 In incenso vocato Sclate-incense empto ad deserviendum in choro festis duplicibus principalibus, nil hoc anno.

1484–5 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 222.

slate-knife n. a knife used for splitting slates.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > [noun] > slating equipment

ripper1823

slate-knife1825

slate-axe1828

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 622 The instruments used in splitting and cleaning slates are, slate-knives, axes, bars, and wedges.

slate-land n. (see quot. 1733).

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > wild or uncultivated land > [noun] > barren land or desert

desert?c1225

bare1683

slate-land1733

barren1784

mesquite1834

badlands1850

hardscrabble1859

pindan1888

in (also up) the blue1963

wasteland1966

1733 J. Tull Horse-hoing Husbandry xiv. 90 Poor Slate Land [Note lying upon Slate or Stone].

slate-nail n. a nail used to fix a slate on a roof.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails

roof nail1284

shingle-nail1303

spoon-nailc1310

tile-pin1338

lead-nail1355

spoon-brod1361

stone-brod1363

stone-nail1469

slate-pin1579

shank1716

slate-peg1875

slate-nail1880

1880 A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 4) 300 He now, with the forefinger of his left hand, got hold of a slate-nail.

slate-peg n. a peg used to fix a slate on a roof.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails

roof nail1284

shingle-nail1303

spoon-nailc1310

tile-pin1338

lead-nail1355

spoon-brod1361

stone-brod1363

stone-nail1469

slate-pin1579

shank1716

slate-peg1875

slate-nail1880

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2201/1 Slate-peg, a kind of nail used in securing slates on a roof.

slate-pin n. a pin used to fix a slate on a roof.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails

roof nail1284

shingle-nail1303

spoon-nailc1310

tile-pin1338

lead-nail1355

spoon-brod1361

stone-brod1363

stone-nail1469

slate-pin1579

shank1716

slate-peg1875

slate-nail1880

1579 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) I. 312 Lathe,..slatepyne, and nayles.

1736 F. Drake Eboracum i. ii. 64 At the end of each tile is a hole that would receive a common slate pin.

slate-saw n. (see quot. 1875).

ΚΠ

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2201/2 Slate-saw, a machine for trimming the edges of slate-slabs to shape.

slate-works n.

ΚΠ

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-works, a yard, etc. where slate is sawn or shaped.

slate-writer n. a person who practises slate-writing.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun] > spirit-writing > slate-writing > slate-writer

slate-writer1902

1902 F. Podmore Mod. Spiritualism II. iv. ii. 221 Professional slate-writers.

1949 G. B. Shaw Buoyant Billions 7 They have a cohort of Slate Writers and Writing Mediums.

slate-writing n. in spiritualism: writing performed on a slate, attributed to the agency of a medium, but without physical contact of the medium and the writing instrument.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun] > spirit-writing > slate-writing

slate-writing1885

1885 Cent. Mag. July 382/2 She can do the trance business, and knocks, and slate-writing, and all that sort of thing.

1898 Sci. Amer. 8 Oct. 229/2 There has probably been nothing that has made more converts to spiritualism than the much talked of ‘Slate Writing Test’.

1904 I. K. Funk Widow's Mite 369 Slate-writing has given us a class of physical phenomena which is under special suspicion because of the great amount of fraud perpetrated through it.

1905 Smart Set Sept. 110/1 There is only one true magic. And it is not slate-writing, toe-joint snapping, fortune telling or the vending of charms.

1930 H. Carrington Story of Psychic Sci. vi. 147 The majority of messages..have been upon slates—hence the former popularity of ‘slate-writing’ mediums.

1977 B. Inglis Natural & Supernat. xxviii. 277 Slade was one of the practitioners of the new technique: slate-writing.

slate-yard n.

ΚΠ

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. i. 6 I..visited slate-yards and quarries.

Draft additions January 2005

Film (originally U.S.). A board on which identifying details such as scene or take numbers, film title, and director's name are recorded, and which is held in front of the camera at the beginning and end of each take; a clapperboard. Hence: any one of the individual spells of shooting which, as opposed to scenes, are numbered sequentially during filming. Also in extended use (chiefly Sound Recording): recorded introductory material supplying identifying details on a recording or film.

ΚΠ

1924 Los Angeles Times 27 July iii. 19/4 So far as Mr. Cummings is concerned, the continuity need only be written so that the cameraman can keep track of the scenes on his slate.

1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 129/1 When the picture and sound recorders are running in synchronism, the slate is shown in front of the camera and the clapper arm is banged down.

1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 640/1 The first shot taken is ‘slate one, take one’... Thus every shot has two numbers: the slate number, indicating its place in the shooting schedule, and the scene number, indicating the place in the script.

1982 T. Barr Acting for Camera iv. xxvi. 190 The assistant holds the slate where the camera can photograph it.

1999 D. Morgan Monty Python Speaks! 89 We got to slate one take seventeen, and I think they made it ‘slate two take one’ so it wouldn't look so embarrassing.

2002 T. Holman Sound for Film & Television (ed. 2) v. 112/1 The recording machine records a slate from an open microphone, then re-records the playback directly from the second machine.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† slaten.²

Cant. Obsolete.

1. (See quots.)

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > household linen > bedclothes > [noun] > sheet

sheetc1250

linclothsa1474

bed-sheet1481

slate1567

1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Eii Some of these goe with slates at their backes, which is a sheete to lye in a nightes.

1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Fiiii Their mothers carries them at their backes in their slates, whiche is their shetes. [Hence in later works; in the Dict. Cant. Crew (a 1700) given as slat.]

a1640 J. Fletcher et al. Beggers Bush iii. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ll4/1 To Mill from the Ruffmans, commision and slates.

2. A half-crown.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > half-crown or thirty pennies

mancusOE

half-crowna1549

George1660

St George1661

slate1699

trooper1699

tosheroon1859

tosh1912

half a crack1933

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Slate, a half Crown.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021).

slaten.³

Brit.

/sleɪt/, U.S.

/sleɪt/

Etymology: < slate v.³

A severe criticism; a slating.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > [noun] > severe > instance of

cockshy1822

smasher1828

slasher1849

scarifier1855

slating1870

slate1887

savaging1905

excoriation1924

caning1933

pasting1974

handbagging1987

1887 A. Lang Bks. & Bookmen 19 ‘Slate’ is a professional term for a severe criticism.

1889 D. Hannay Life F. Marryat 157 Carlyle's savage ‘slate’ of him [Marryat] is unjust.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

slaten.⁴

Etymology: Of obscure origin.

Scottish. rare.

A slovenly, dirty person.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty person > [noun]

mesela1400

scabbardc1440

slotterbugc1440

drivel1498

sow1508

wallydraigle?a1513

sloven1530

filthy1553

ketterela1572

slabberer1611

slubberdegullion1612

Grobian1621

slabberdegullion1653

slobber-chops1670

slate1718

haverel1720

slobberer1732

slummock1760

fleabag1805

slush1825

slob1876

trashbag1887

crumb1918

garbage can1925

hog1932

crud1940

sordid1959

grot1970

1718 A. Ramsay Christ's-kirk on Green ii. 16 Had aff [= hold off], quoth she, Ye filthy Slate.

1806 J. Hogg Poems 74 (Jam.) The blether-lipped drunken slate!

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2021).

slatev.¹

Brit.

/sleɪt/, U.S.

/sleɪt/

Forms: Also 1500s sclate, slaytt, 1600s Scottish skleat.

Etymology: < slate n.¹

1. transitive. To cover or roof with slates.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (intransitive)] > slate

slate1530

society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof > tile, slate, or shingle

heela1387

tile1467

slatc1475

slate1530

shingle1562

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 706/1 It is better to sclate a house with stone than to tyle it.

1554 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) II. 470 Covenauntted wyth Odam to slaytt the new Buylding.

1605 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) II. 491 Thomas Yates to slate y^e Hall.

1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 108 Houses..built..warme and defensiue..as if they were tiled and slated.

1637–50 J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (Wodrow Soc.) 471 Walls were not repaired nor the roofe skleated till three yeares after.

1708 S. Sewall Diary 23 Aug. (1973) I. 600 I pleaded that Mr. Dudley had been at great Charge to Slate his House.

1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §947 The gables are to be slated over.

1883 Law Times Rep. 49 138/2 The defendant..had on several occasions employed S. to slate houses for him.

absolute.1703 J. Swift Vanbrug's House in Misc. (1711) 365 A Lyrick Ode would Slate; a Catch Would Tile; an Epigram would Thatch.1941 Cross & Plough Ladyday 9/2 To shelter him, man had to fell timber,..to burn bricks and tiles, to thatch and to slate.

a. To put down (a name, etc.) on a writing-slate; to set down, book, for something; also const. to with infinitive. Also, to plan, propose, or schedule (an event). Chiefly U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > record > written record > record in writing [verb (transitive)]

writeeOE

awriteeOE

markOE

titlea1325

record1340

registera1393

accordc1450

chronicle1460

to write upa1475

calendar1487

enrol1530

prickc1540

scripture1540

to set down1562

report1600

reservea1616

tabulatea1646

to take down1651

actuate1658

to commit to writing (also paper)1695

to mark down1881

slate1883

the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (transitive)] > arrange > arrange or schedule

make1676

schedule1862

slate1883

card1885

1883 Daily News 18 Sept. 6/2 He had been ‘slated’ for a month—that is, his name was entered upon a slate in the porter's lodge, which indicated that he was dangerously ill.

1896 Harper's Mag. June 25/1 So the Professor was unconsciously slated for the office of hero.

1904 F. Lynde Grafters xxvii. 343 Griggs was on for the night run eastward with the express; and ‘Dutch’ Tischer had found himself slated to take the fast mail west.

1936 P. G. Wodehouse Laughing Gas ix. 94 You ought to be thanking me on your knees for warning you. Yes, sir, unless you pull up mighty quick, you're slated to get yours.

1944 College Topics (Univ. Virginia) 30 Mar. 3 No one has been slated for the 220, but Wenger may run in that event.

1960 Times 14 Sept. 12/6 I was intrigued to see this heading in a Charleston paper ‘Church Tour slated’... It turned out to be nothing more than the announcement of an annual plantation tour..to raise funds for the local Protestant Episcopal Church.

1966 G. F. Allen Brit. Rail after Beeching xii. 357 Of the Southern Region's locomotive works, Brighton had already been shut down and Ashford (Kent) had been slated for closure.

1971 Wall St. Jrnl. 22 July w1/2 The Treasury is offering new 7%, 10-year bonds... Other cash-raising moves are also slated.

1973 Oxf. Mag. 4 May 10/1 When Americans mean to do something they slate it, rather than timetable or table it. When they do table it, they don't mean to do it.

1979 Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 3 a/3 Gov. Bruce King and..Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald are slated to attend the ceremony.

b. spec. to propose or nominate a candidate for political office; to form a slate (slate n.¹ 2c) of candidates. U.S.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [verb (transitive)] > adopt as candidate

adopt1797

slate1804

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [verb (intransitive)] > form list of candidates

slate1961

1804 J. Pearson Let. 26 Nov. in Papers of John Steele (1924) I. 441 The Federalists have not, nor do they intend slating a candidate.

1912 T. Dreiser Financier xxvii. 297 Stener, although he had served two terms, was slated for re-election.

1961 T. H. White Making of President 1960 iv. 100 On one huge ballot the Charlestonian was offered fifty-three individual choices of candidates if he wished to ponder his selections. Such a mystifying ballot requires simplification..supplied by ‘slating’. The local bosses, the union chiefs, the statewide candidates, the education-board candidates, even the veterans organizations, all make cross-alliances to settle on, then print, a ‘slate’ of approved candidates among the multitude of names.

3. To scrape (a skin or hide) with a slater to remove loosened hairs.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with skins > work with skins [verb (transitive)] > clean hide > remove hair

pull1550

hair1802

grain1841

unhair1845

slate1885

fine-hair1891

1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xxxii. 527 Upon removal from the bate the skins are ‘slated’, which is the removal of the fine hair remaining upon the skins after the unhairing operation.

Draft additions January 2005

Film and Sound Recording (originally U.S.).

a. intransitive. To provide identifying information on a film or recording, esp. by using a slate. Frequently in imperative. Cf. slate n.¹ Additions.

ΚΠ

1953 D. Livingston Film & Director vii. 107 When slating, the slate boy calls out the scene and take numbers and then claps together the two pieces of wood.

1972 J. Quick & T. Labau Handbk. Film Production xvi. 178 The director then calls, ‘Camera!’ and when the camera has been brought up to speed the cameraman calls ‘Speed.’ The director then calls, ‘Slate.’

1987 G. Kindem Moving Image x. 253/1 In the absence of a clapboard, a person can call out ‘slate!’ followed by a sharp handclap.

2000 M. Saint Nicholas Actor's Guide (rev. ed.) xii. 129 If the camera is rolling, you will ‘slate’ by saying your name in a very warm and friendly manner, and then you'll go straight into your reading.

b. transitive. To identify (a scene, take, etc.) by means of a slate.

ΚΠ

1983 E. Ward & A. Silver Film Director's Team iii. 94 A camera assistant slates the scene with clapperboard indicating scene number and take number.

1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 37/3 (caption) Assistant cameraman..is about to slate the scene with the automatic slating device on the matte box.

2003 T. Souvignier Loops & Grooves ix. 81 If you have good notes from the recording session, and slated each take, it should be easy to find the right sections.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

slatev.²

Brit.

/sleɪt/, U.S.

/sleɪt/

Etymology: apparently < slate n.¹ Sense 2 appears to have originated in Ireland.

slang and colloquial.

1. transitive. (See quot. 1864) ? Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > strike off with a blow > a person's hat

to fly a tile1819

slate1864

1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 158 Another point of amusement is flying a tile or slating a man as the phrases of the Stock Exchange describe it.

1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) Slate, to knock the hat over one's eyes, to bonnet.

a. To beat or thrash severely.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person

to-beatc893

threshOE

bustc1225

to lay on or upon?c1225

berrya1250

to-bunea1250

touchc1330

arrayc1380

byfrapc1380

boxc1390

swinga1400

forbeatc1420

peal?a1425

routa1425

noddlea1450

forslinger1481

wipe1523

trima1529

baste1533

waulk1533

slip1535

peppera1550

bethwack1555

kembc1566

to beat (a person) black and blue1568

beswinge1568

paik1568

trounce1568

canvass1573

swaddle?1577

bebaste1582

besoop1589

bumfeage1589

dry-beat1589

feague1589

lamback1589

clapperclaw1590

thrash1593

belam1595

lam1595

beswaddle1598

bumfeagle1598

belabour1600

tew1600

flesh-baste1611

dust1612

feeze1612

mill1612

verberate1614

bethumpa1616

rebuke1619

bemaul1620

tabor1624

maula1627

batterfang1630

dry-baste1630

lambaste1637

thunder-thump1637

cullis1639

dry-banga1640

nuddle1640

sauce1651

feak1652

cotton1654

fustigate1656

brush1665

squab1668

raddle1677

to tan (a person's) hide1679

slam1691

bebump1694

to give (a person) his load1694

fag1699

towel1705

to kick a person's butt1741

fum1790

devel1807

bray1808

to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813

mug1818

to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821

welt1823

hidea1825

slate1825

targe1825

wallop1825

pounce1827

to lay into1838

flake1841

muzzle1843

paste1846

looder1850

frail1851

snake1859

fettle1863

to do over1866

jacket1875

to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877

to take apart1880

splatter1881

to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884

to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886

to do up1887

to —— (the) hell out of1887

to beat — bells out of a person1890

soak1892

to punch out1893

stoush1893

to work over1903

to beat up1907

to punch up1907

cream1929

shellac1930

to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931

duff1943

clobber1944

to fill in1948

to bash up1954

to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976

to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983

beast1990

becurry-

fan-

1825 A. Knapp & W. Baldwin Newgate Cal. IV. 149/1 Slate him, the Dublin word for an unmerciful beating.

1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. 159 Putting his head in cautiously for fear of drunken Irishmen, who might be seized with the national impulse to ‘slate’ him.

b. Military. To punish (an enemy) severely.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > punish enemy

chastisec1515

slate1854

attrit1915

society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > severely

to-punisha1400

overpunisha1639

to give (a person) hell1836

to give a person what for1852

slate1854

to give it in the neck1881

to come down1888

bean1910

scrub1911

cane1925

to gie (or give) (someone) laldy1935

1854 Major Champion in A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (1877) V. 375 ‘Slate 'em, slate 'em, my boys!’ was his exulting..adjuration.

1885 C. W. Wilson From Korti to Khartum (1886) 163 Now we shall get ‘slated’, I thought..; a few good shots might have picked off every one on deck.

1902 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness 107 Their smaller guns..kept it up far into the night, slating the reverse slopes of the Krantz with wonderful accuracy.

in extended use.1883 Harper's Mag. Apr. 688/1 A billiard table in an overcrowded hotel, even with a railway rug around one, is apt to ‘slate’ the sleeper before morning.

a. To assail with reproof or abuse; to rate or reprimand; to scold severely.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)] > severely

dressc1405

wipe1523

to take up1530

whip1530

to shake upa1556

trounce1607

castigatea1616

lasha1616

objurgate1616

thunderstrike1638

snub1672

drape1683

cut1737

rowa1798

score1812

to dress down1823

to pitch into ——1823

wig1829

to row (a person) up1838

to catch or get Jesse1839

slate1840

drop1853

to drop (down) to or on (to)1859

to give (a person) rats1862

to jump upon1868

to give (a person) fits1871

to give it to someone (pretty) stiff1880

lambaste1886

ruck1899

bollock1901

bawl1903

scrub1911

burn1914

to hang, draw, and quarter1930

to tear a strip off1940

to tear (someone) off a strip1940

brass1943

rocket1948

bitch1952

tee1955

fan-

1840 Blackwood's Mag. 48 210 I weep over the realm's decay, and have some notion of slating—excuse me for borrowing a word from the vocabulary of the new ministerial and courtly party of Ribandism—Lord Palmerston.

1860 Slang Dict. 218 Slate, to pelt with abuse.

1866 J. E. Brogden Provinc. Words Lincs. Slate, to scold.

1881 E. Lynn Linton My Love! II. 306 Val slated me hard enough. So we may cry quits over that.

b. To criticize (a book or author) severely; to castigate, cut up.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)] > severely

to be sharp upon1561

crossbite1571

scarify1582

canvass1590

maul1592

slasha1652

fib1665

to be severe on (or upon)1672

scalp1676

to pull to (or in) pieces1703

roast1710

to cut up1762

tomahawk1815

to blow sky-high1819

row1826

excoriate1833

scourge1835

target1837

slate1848

scathe1852

to take apart1880

soak1892

pan1908

burn1914

slam1916

sandbag1919

to put the blast on (someone)1929

to tear down1938

clobber1944

handbag1952

rip1961

monster1976

1848 A. Watts in Life (1884) II. 258 And, when they'd been by critics slated, Had always the review to show 'em.

1870 ‘Ouida’ Puck II. i. 6 That wretched Mouse, when he wants to slate a very good novel.

1890 G. Saintsbury Ess. Eng. Lit. p. xxv You slated this [book], and it has gone through twenty editions.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

slatev.³

Brit.

/sleɪt/, U.S.

/sleɪt/, Scottish English

/slet/

Forms: Also Middle English slayt, 1500s–1600s Scottish slait.

Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymon: Norse *sleita.

Etymology: < Old Norse *sleita, corresponding to Old English slǽtan : see sleat v.¹

northern and Scottish.

1. transitive. To incite or set on (a dog). Also const. on, at, against (a person, etc.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > cause or incite to attack > spec an animal (usually dog)

sleata1225

baita1375

slatea1400

shout1888

a1400 Metrical Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Herrig Archiv 57 266 Þei sayh beestes..and þei hem bayted Wiþ houndes þat þei on hem slayted.

c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora 657 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 118 Þat feynd..slaytyt þaim full fellonly, & bad þai suld þat hure wery.

?1553 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) i. l. 324 in Shorter Poems (1967) 28 Diane..hym in forme hes of a hart translatit: I saw (allace) his houndis at him slatit.

a1568 Balnevis in Bannatyne MS. 393 Thairfoir had bound thocht scho be found, Or dreid thy doggis be slaittit.

1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (at cited word) To slate the dog at any one.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Slate, to set on, to incite.

1876 C. C. Robinson Gloss. Words Dial. Mid-Yorks. 126 I'll slate my dog against thine.

1896 W. W. Skeat & T. Hallam Pegge's Two Coll. Derbicisms 63.

2. To bait, assail, or drive, with dogs. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > impelling or driving > impel or drive [verb (transitive)] > impel or drive animates > with dogs

slate1684

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > with dogs

slate1684

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > animal baiting > bait [verb (transitive)] > with dogs

sleatc1000

baita1300

slate1684

1684 Yorkshire Dial. (ed. 2) 43 I did Slate him back than with our Dog.

1684 Yorkshire Dial. (ed. 2) 106 To slate a Beast, is to hound a Dog at him.

1755 Guthrie's Trial 143 (Jam.) It is much to be lamented, that people professing his name, should be so slaited and enslaved by transgression as many are.

Derivatives

ˈslating n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > animal baiting > [noun] > dog-baiting

slatinga1400

a1400 K. Alis. (Laud) 200 Þer was..Of lyons chace, of bere baityng, A-bay of bore, of bole slatyng.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

n.¹a1340

n.²1567

n.³1887

n.⁴1718

v.¹1530

v.²1825

v.³a1400

单词	slate
释义	slaten.¹ Brit. /sleɪt/, U.S. /sleɪt/ Forms: Also (chiefly northern and Scottish) Middle English– sclate (Middle English sclathe), sklate (1800s sklet); Middle English–1800s sclait (1500s sclayt), Middle English sklaytt, 1500s sklaitt, 1500s–1800s sklait. Etymology: < Old French esclate (feminine), in the same sense as esclat (masculine), whence slat n.¹ After c1630 the forms with scl-, skl- are exclusively northern and Scottish. The earliest example of the form occurs in sense 3, but the development of the senses must have been the same as in slat n.¹ 1. a. A thin, usually rectangular, piece of certain varieties of stone which split readily into laminæ (see 4), used especially for the purpose of covering the roofs of buildings.Also frequently called a roofing-slate, and with distinctive premodifiers, as blue, green, grey, white slate(s). For the older Scottish use of the word see skaillie n. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > [noun] > laminated stone slat-stone1391 slate-stonec1450 slate1455 slate1653 tilestone1668 shivera1728 society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > stone of the nature of slate > for roofing > piece of slatc1384 slate1455 stone-slate1530 roof slate1784 scantle1850 α. 1455 Anc. Cal. Rec. Dublin (1889) 284 Sclatys, bordes, gottorys, schall ly upon the key be the spase of xx. dayes. c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 214 As a sclate fell of a hous, and slewe a man. c1540 A. Borde Bk. for to Lerne B ij Many tyles or sklates. 1584 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 678 Becaus thair is sklaittis, lyme, sand and tymmer to be transportit..to his said palice. 1832 J. D. Carrick in Whistle-Binkie 1st Ser. 62 Some o' them gaed ower the sklates, As weel's your dainty dow. β. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 706/1 I sclate a house with stone slates.1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Civ^v/2 A Slate, tyle, tegula..later.1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 202 The roofe is couered with certaine blacke stones or slates.1662 B. Gerbier Brief Disc. Princ. Building 36 The Roof..should be covered either with Lead or blew Slates.1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. xix. 69 A Slate fell upon her Head from the Top of an House.1745 Season. Advice Protestants 17 The Houses, that were formerly in good Repair, and cover'd with Slates, decay.1811 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire I. 428 At Sheffield these white and grey Slates are exclusively used.1841 G. P. R. James Brigand xix The house was built of cold grey stone, with a roof of slates.1889 H. C. Seddon Builder's Work (ed. 2) 231 Ordinary roofing slates are sold by the number... Some of the largest sized slates are..sold by the ton, and hence are called ton slates or weight slates. b. A slab of slate, †or other stony substance; a laminated rock. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate > slab of slate1601 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xvii. viii. 506 It [the Columbine marl] will resolve and cleave into most thin slates or flakes. 1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 23 The Irish Ocean, a sea so shallow, and so full of rocks and slates. 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 500 He [the slater] supplies sawn slates for shelving in larders and dairies. c. to have a slate loose or off, to be weak in intellect. (Cf. tile n.¹) ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > be intellectually weak [verb (intransitive)] to have a want1823 to have a slate loose or off1854 1854 J. E. Millais Let. 25 May in M. Lutyens Millais & Ruskins (1967) 216 Ruskin..is certainly mad or has a slate loose. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret I. iii. i. 133 The college tutor..facetiously likened his head to a roof, and said there was a slate loosened in it.] 1860 Slang Dict. 218 He has a slate loose. 1862 Athenæum 27 Sept. 397 On too good terms with himself to think that..there is a ‘loose slate’, in his intellectual covering. 1867 R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower II. xvi. 240 You must have a slate off this morning, Nell! d. A flat piece or plate of some other material used for the same purpose as a roofing-slate. ΚΠ 1887 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) 87 ‘Glass slates’ in roofing to lofts are sometimes used to admit light. 1887 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) 89 Slating with very strong zinc slates. 1893 Spons' Mechanic's Own Bk. (ed. 4) 617 Shingles, or wooden slates, are made from hard wood. 2. a. A tablet of slate, usually framed in wood, used for writing on. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > writing materials > material to write on > slate > [noun] slatc1390 slatea1500 grapholite1794 a1500 (?1397) G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Digby 72) (1872) ii. Suppl. §45. 56 Take alle the signes,..& wryte hem in þy slate. a1500 (?1397) G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Digby 72) (1872) ii. Suppl. §44. 54 Consider thy rote furst,..& entere hit in-to thy slate. ?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxviii. sig. Hiv Ye must search Angles of position agayne, and marke them in the table or slate. 1656 A. Cowley Davideis i. 18 in Poems Letters..painfully engrav'd in thin wrought plates, Some cut in wood, some lightlier trac'd on slates. 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 112 A Board plastered over, which with Cotton they wipe out, when full, as we do from Slates or Table-Books. 1752 S. Foote Taste i. 2 I can't remember her Name, but 'tis upon the Slate. 1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. i. iii. 39 We proceed in the same manner a person would who should undertake to draw any plan assigned him upon a slate. 1826 D. Booth Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 53 We will now work a brewing according to the example in the instructions, on a slate. 1874 W. S. Jevons Princ. Sci. (1900) 96 I have used a slate of this kind, which I call a Logical Slate, for more than twelve years. in extended use.1897 Army & Navy Stores List 750 Opal Slates in Leather Frame.1897 Army & Navy Stores List 757 Porcelain Menu Slate. b. figurative. A record of any kind concerning or against a person; esp. in a clean slate. Also in phrases to wipe (off) the slate, to wipe the slate clean: to obliterate or cancel a record, usually of a debt, misdemeanour, etc.; hence loosely, to make a fresh start. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > [noun] > a record > personal slate1868 the mind > mental capacity > memory > effacement, obliteration > efface, obliterate [verb (transitive)] dilghec897 scrape1303 washc1380 fade1398 razea1425 out-razec1425 racec1450 enrasea1492 stramp1535 wipe1535 facec1540 cancel1559 outblot1573 to wash out1580 to blur out1581 obliterate1607 efface1611 dislimna1616 excerebrate1621 demark1655 rufflea1680 erase1695 scrub1828 overscore1834 elide1846 trash1859 to wipe (off) the slate1921 1868 E. Yates Rock Ahead ii. ii He had passed the wet sponge over the slate containing any records of his early life. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Sept. 9/1 I can conceive nothing more desirable in the interests of these embarrassed tenants than that they should have a clean slate. 1899 R. Kipling Absent-minded Beggar i He is out on active service, wiping something off a slate. 1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah p. lxix We are helpless before a slate scrawled with figures of National Debts..the sensible thing to do is to wipe the slate and let the wrangling States distribute what they can spare. 1937 A. Huxley Ends & Means iv. 27 Where violence is pushed to its limits and the victims are totally exterminated, the slate is wiped clean and the perpetrators of violence are free to begin afresh on their own account. 1960 Times 2 Mar. 14/1 Tactically, Wolves must bank on all-out attack to wipe the slate clean. 1973 Times 28 Apr. 11/4 What I try to do each year is to wipe the slate clean. ‘Now what can I do this year?’ c. Originally and chiefly North American. A list of candidates proposed for election or appointment to an official (esp. political) post; also transferred, the group of candidates so nominated; a group of candidates (occasionally also of electors) with a set of shared political views. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates lites1533 ticket1711 party ticket1800 slate1842 society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates > group of candidates > with shared political views slate1952 society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > list of candidates > group of candidates slate1970 1842 N.Y. Tribune 24 Jan. 3/1 The Regency are obliged to put them on the slate to be rid of them, and then rub names out at leisure. 1877 N.Y. Tribune 1 Mar. (Farmer) The facts about the latest Cabinet slate..are interesting as showing..the course of President Hayes in choosing his advisers. 1884 American 8 232 In dictated nominations, in the making of ‘slates’ for obedient party acceptance. 1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lxiii. 457 Some leading man..sketches out an allotment of places; and when this allotment has been worked out fully, it results in a Slate, i.e. a complete draft list of candidates to be proposed for the various offices. 1913 R. M. La Follette Autobiogr. 12 Well, the fraternities made their slate and put it through. 1931 W. G. McAdoo Crowded Years xii. 182 The Governor had Brandeis on the slate as Secretary of Commerce. 1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 May 2/2 There were..nine contests between slates of delegates pledged to Taft and slates pledged to Eisenhower. 1963 Economist 2 Nov. 18/1 Electors were originally independent agents, not bound to any party. However, ‘slates’ of electors soon appeared, usually, though not always, pledged..to one or other of the parties. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 3/2 The Eglinton Federal Liberal Association last night..selected a complete slate of delegates pledged to vote for Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp at the national Liberal leadership convention. 1970 New Yorker 15 Aug. 78/3 Only three slates, or thirty candidates, can be elected. 1972 R. Thomas Porkchoppers (1974) xxvi. 230 Cubbin voted without hesitation for himself and his slate. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 12 June 2/2 Uncommitted slates led the voting in the Democratic Presidential primary. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 19/3 Eliav..who abandoned Labor in 1975, led a socialist and dovish slate (‘Sheli’) in this election. 1979 Observer 27 May 9/2 It was possible to see lists—Labour back~benchers are great ones for lists—giving the ‘slates’ of the Tribune and Manifesto Groups for the Shadow Cabinet elections. d. A written record of a debt made when purchase of goods is allowed on credit. Also figurative, esp. in on the slate, on account. (See also quot. 1909.) ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > solvency > [adverb] > on credit to fristc1440 on (also upon, of) trust1509 on (also upon) credit1560 in, upon, on (the) score1568 on time1628 on or upon (the) tick1642 upon the tally1807 on the nod1882 on the slate1909 on the cuff1927 on the knocker1934 society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > an account or reckoning accountc1300 taila1325 laya1400 tale1401 reckoningc1405 tailye1497 accounterc1503 lawing1535 note1587 post1604 chalking1613 tally1614 computus1631 tick1681 tab1889 slate1909 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 188/1 On the slate (Lower Peoples'), written up against you—from the credit~slate kept in chandlers' shops. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 358 Lose your customers that way. Pubs do. Fellows run up a bill on the slate and then slinking around the back streets into somewhere else. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Oct. 1/5 [London] Many food stores are putting the bills ‘on the slate’ until the men go back to work. 1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 114 The Site Committee..made history by going on the slate and ticking up a few rounds of drinks. 1973 J. Marks Mick Jagger (1974) 39 He let them run a slate because they seemed like good sorts. 1980 Observer 7 Dec. 3/3 He knew of pharmacists who had been asked to put the bill ‘on the slate’ by families needing four or five prescriptions. 3. Roofing-slates collectively, or the material from which these are made. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > building stone > stone of the nature of slate > for roofing slatea1340 slatc1400 slating1815 α. a1340 R. Rolle Psalter civ. 23 Þai..did treson [to the Israelites] forto less þaim in werke of mortere and sclate. 1392 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 116 In sal. Simonis Sklater cooperantis et ponentis lapides de sklate. a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cxxxi. f. lxvii He buylded a royall Mynstre of Lyme and stoone and couered it with platis of Syluer in stede of Sclate or Leade. 1571 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1882) I. 309 Ten lode of sclait. β. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 720/2 I slate a house, I cover it with slate.1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. xi. f. 159 Theyr houses are..couered with slate or other stone.1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias i. xl. 94 A greate citie, consisting of houses made of Earth, and couered ouer with broade stone or slate.a1640 T. Risdon Chorogr. Surv. Devon (1811) (modernized text) 8 Of late days quarries of slate are found out, wherewith they cover houses.?1677 S. Primatt City & Covntry Purchaser & Builder 72 A Penthouse..covered with Tyles, Lead or Slate.1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Slating Roofs cover'd with Slate, must be first Boarded over.1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 181/2 Houses of respectable appearance, roofed with slate. 4. a. An argillaceous rock of sedimentary origin, the different varieties of which have the common property of splitting readily into thin plates.Many varieties are distinguished, esp. in Geology, by special terms, as clay, hornblende, mica, talc slate. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > [noun] > laminated stone slat-stone1391 slate-stonec1450 slate1455 slate1653 tilestone1668 shivera1728 the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate slate-stone1392 slat1605 slate1653 shindle1669 shiffer1683 shelf1849 shale-stone1880 1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures (1663) 254 The extream trouble his people were at in planting their ladders against the walls by reason of their bad scituation which was all of Slate. 1676 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 11 764 There is also a sort of Mineral we call a Slate, which is partly Coal, partly Alum-stone, partly Marcasite, which being laid up in heaps and burnt, are used for hardening the Coal-ways. 1738 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The same impressions are also frequently found on other substances, as on the black slate that lies over veins of coals. 1795 R. Kirwan Elem. Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 19 This [slaty alum] is the stone called Black Slate, celebrated among the vulgar for its medicinal properties. 1818 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory (ed. 2) ii. 24 The ore is first calcined with a low heat, so as to destroy the bituminous matter of the slate. 1852 C. Lyell Elem. Geol. (ed. 4) 266 The slate of Stonesfield..is a slightly oolitic shelly limestone. 1872 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 254 The quartz is divided by a horse of slate into two parts. b. With a and plural. A kind or variety of slaty rock. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > slate > type of slate1704 Skiddaw slate1832 1704 Dict. Rusticum (at cited word) Some Directions..whereby the..lasting Goodness of any Slate may be Experimented. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Besides the Blue Slate, we have in England a Greyish Slate, call'd also Horsham Stone. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 171/2 Undulations on slates and sandstones of every geological age. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. App. 430 The cleavage of slates is therefore not a question of stratification. 1903 J. E. Marr Agric. Geol. 234 Mudstones which, owing to the subsequent impress of cleavage, usually occur as slates. 5. A bluish-grey colour like that of slate. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > bluish grey blue-grey1478 slate-grey1794 slate-colour1799 slate1813 gunmetal1905 battleship grey1916 1813 J. Austen Let. 16 Sept. (1995) 223 There was but 2 y^d & a q^r of the dark slate in the Shop, but the Man promised to match it. 1882 W. Crookes Dyeing & Tissue-printing 144 Light Slate. 1882 W. Crookes Dyeing & Tissue-printing 145 Slate on Cotton Wool. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 12 Nov. 1/3 Far to the south, where the slate of the sea and the grey of the sky wove together. Compounds C1. General attributive. a. With the senses ‘made or consisting of slate’, ‘having the character of slate’. slate-band n. ΚΠ 1810 S. Smith Agric. Surv. Galloway 20 (note) The proper schistus,..called by English miners shiver, and in Galloway slate-band. 1810 S. Smith Agric. Surv. Galloway 21 Strata of a soft shivering argillaceous stone, which..is called in the country slate-band. slate-bed n. ΚΠ 1839 H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall vi. 184 The slate-beds in the valley between Milton and Maristow. 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 348/2 A billiard-table with a slate-bed. slate-belt n. ΚΠ 1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) i. 458 On the eastern or slate belt great activity is manifested. Most of the mines are situated near the contact of the slate and the granite. slate-book n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-book, two or more slabs of framed slate bound together for writing on. slate-clay n. ΚΠ 1804 R. Jameson Min. I. 312 Slate clay, shale. 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 962 The strata of this section contain numerous varieties of..slate-clay. slate-coal n. ΚΠ 1805 R. Jameson Syst. Mineral. II. 72 Slate-Coal... Colour intermediate between velvet-black and dark greyish-black. 1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 225 Slate Coal, a hard, dull variety of coal, not unlike Cannel. slate marl n. a consolidated marl. ΚΠ 1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 87 Stone, Slate, or Flag-marle, which is a kind of a soft Stone..of a blue or bluish Colour. 1772 J. Ainslie in A. Hunter et al. Georgical Ess. (new ed.) III. ii. 41 A drachm of a friable slate-marle afforded a residuum of eighteen grains of yellow sand. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 238 Where this sort of marle has a thin laminated structure.., it is frequently denominated slate marle. slate mica n. ΚΠ 1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 344 The aggregate of quartz and mica..is, when it is slaty, called slate mica, or shistose mica, or slaty mica. slate-rock n. ΚΠ 1793 W. Marshall Minutes in Rural Econ. W. Eng. (1796) II. 344 The slate-rock waters of this District are superior to those of any others. 1813 S. T. Coleridge Remorse (ed. 2) ii. i. 25 There where the smooth high wall of slate-rock glitters. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. App. 432 Fossil shells are found in these slate-rocks. slate roof n. ΚΠ 1578–9 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. III. 99 [They] enterit in the said hous,..and thaireftir tuke doun the sklait ruife. 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/1 The pitch of a slate roof should not be less than 1 in h[e]ight to 4 of length. slate-shivers n. ΚΠ 1821 W. Scott Kenilworth II. viii. 211 A devil's ally, that can change slate-shivers into Spanish dollars. slate slab n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate slab, a sheet or plate of slate. slate-spar n. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > carbonates > [noun] > hexagonal > calcite > varieties alabasterc1384 agarica1400 alabastrites1582 alabastrite1592 Iceland crystal1673 agaric mineral1728 milk of the moon1728 Iceland spar1771 argentine1795 rock milk1804 slate-spar1804 schieferspar1807 calc-spar1822 wonderstone1824 manganocalcite1852 neotype1854 hislopite1859 aphrite1868 thinolite1879 moonmilk1885 vaterite1913 micrite1959 1804 R. Jameson Min. I. 508 Slate Spar... Its colour is milk, greenish and reddish white. 1858 J. Nicol Elements Mineral. 203 Slate spar, thin, lamellar,..with a shining white pearly lustre and greasy feel. slate-stratum n. ΚΠ 1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 65 The character and features of this slate-stratum. slate-system n. ΚΠ 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 81 The slate-system [of rocks] has obtained its full share of such attention. slate tile n. ΚΠ 1531 in J. Gairdner Lett. & Papers Henry VIII (1880) V. 183 Payment to John Cornelis of Handwarp, for..making of slate tyle. 1751 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer at Padstow The trade in slate tiles. slatework n. ΚΠ 1867 G. M. Musgrave Nooks & Corners Old France II. 6 A lofty domicile..exhibiting laths, timbering and slatework. b. Instrumental, as slate-floored, slate-formed, slate-hung, slate-pointed, slate-roofed, slate-spired, slate-strewn; slate-thatcher. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [adjective] > type of roof thatched1467 side?a1475 thacked1530 vaulted1552 shingleda1563 slated1611 unshingled1611 high-pitch1614 slate-pointed1648 killesed1649 hipped1663 pantiledc1672 overpitched1677 underpitched1677 low-pitcheda1684 pitched1773 theeked1792 peaked1797 shingle1810 thackless1810 choppered1818 wagon-headed1823 unlathed1854 break-back1856 shingly1857 saddleback1861 scaled1862 gambrelled1863 thatchy1864 weather-slated1870 thatchless1882 weather-tiled1887 monopitch1941 tile-roofed1962 society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > floor > [adjective] > floored > in specific manner planchered1440 well-floored1555 slate-floored1648 flaggeda1661 quarried1842 flagstoned1885 brick-barred1888 brick-floored1898 society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [adjective] > roofed > in specific manner > specific coupledc1384 thatched1467 stone-heled1578 slate-hung1648 slate-roofed1648 raftered1670 rafted1739 stob-thatched1792 reeded1819 hip-roofed1821 wagon-vaulted1835 span-roofed1842 saddle-backed1853 thatchy1864 tortoise-roofed1886 mansarded1890 monopitch1961 skillion-roofed1967 1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Schalie-decker, a Slate-thatcher, or Coverer. 1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. 235 The thin slate-formed argillaceous strata of the coal metals. 1862 H. Marryat One Year in Sweden I. 238 Leckö Slott with her grand slate-spired towers. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xxv. 251 I had crossed more than one crest of the slate-strewn ranges. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel iv. 292 The shining gray slate-pointed roofs of Quebec. 1948 J. Betjeman Sel. Poems 116 The slate-hung, goodly-builded house. 1960 Times 26 Mar. 9/5 Indeed, everything here recalls France—the squares and cobbled streets, the whitewashed walls and dormered slate-pointed houses. 1978 J. L. Hensley Killing in Gold (1979) xi. 151 The slate-floored entrance hall. 1981 V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell xi. 151 A whitewashed slate-roofed village. c. Objective. (a) slate-cutter, slate-maker, slate-picker, etc. ΚΠ 1780 Westm. Mag. Suppl. 730/1 Slate-mak [er] . 1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 703/1 The slate-workers of Stonesfield. 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/2 Slate-cutter, a machine for cutting the edges of roofing or other slates. (b) slate-cutting, slate-dressing, etc. ΚΠ 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 329 The stone slag, or copper cinder, resulting from the slate-smelting. 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2200/2 Slate-beveling, -cutting, -making, -trimming, Machine. 1894 Daily News 13 June 5/2 Collecting data as to the methods of slate-dressing. d. (a) With names of colours, as slate-blue, slate-brown, slate-grey. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > grayish blue persec1387 perse-blue1414 venet colourc1425 watercoloura1450 grey-blue1648 slate-blue1794 the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [noun] > bluish grey blue-grey1478 slate-grey1794 slate-colour1799 slate1813 gunmetal1905 battleship grey1916 the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [adjective] > bluish grey glawke1412 perse-blue1414 waterisha1425 blunket1488 bluish-grey1578 blue-grey1590 water1592 slate-grey1794 slate-coloured1801 griseous1819 neutral1821 slaty1822 schistous1858 slatish1860 powder-blue-grey1952 (a) 1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 152 Leek green, or slate blue. 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 619 For several other shades as..slate-gray. 1871 C. Kingsley At Last I. vii. 234 A slate-blue heron rose lazily off a dead bough. 1883 Cent. Mag. Sept. 729 Latticed porticoes, and slate-brown paint. 1937 Discovery Dec. 384/2 Its black or slate-grey body. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov. 21 (advt.) Generously cut in quality wool gabardine—Mid-Fawn, Slate Grey or Lovat. (b) Also attributive, of a slate colour. ΚΠ 1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 233 Tail..entirely black, or with only a slight slate tipping. 1889 H. Saunders Man. Brit. Birds 646 The adult in summer has a slate or greyish-black hood. C2. a. Miscellaneous and special combinations. slate-like adj. ΚΠ 1898 Appletons' Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 523 Impressions..have been left upon slatelike rocks. slate-merchant n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-merchant, an importer or wholesale dealer in slates. slate-mine n. ΚΠ 1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck Een Schalie-myne, a Slate-mine. slate-pit n. ΚΠ 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ardoisiere, a slate-pit, slate quarrey. slate-quarry n. ΚΠ 1829 W. Scott Black Dwarf Introd., in Tales of my Landlord (new ed.) I. p. xvii He was the son of a labourer in the slate-quarries of Stobo. 1846 Ld. Tennyson Golden Year in Poems (ed. 4) II. 91 I heard them blast The steep slate-quarry. b. slate-axe n. (see quots.). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > [noun] > slating equipment ripper1823 slate-knife1825 slate-axe1828 1828–32 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Slate-ax, a mattock..used in slating. 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-axe, a mattock for shaping slates for roofing, and making holes in them to fasten them to the roof. slate-board n. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > other parts of roof water1703 flanching1833 slate-boarding1833 slate-board1842 break-back1856 parapet line1886 sunroof1889 overcloak1896 roof jack1913 1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 242/2 The slate-boards are supported by five purlins 4 ft. apart. slate-boarding n. (see quot. 1833). ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > other parts of roof water1703 flanching1833 slate-boarding1833 slate-board1842 break-back1856 parapet line1886 sunroof1889 overcloak1896 roof jack1913 1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. Gloss. Index 1130/2 Slate-boarding, boards placed on the roof, on which to nail the slates. slate club n. a sharing-out club, whose accounts are nominally kept on a slate. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > financial dealings > banking > [noun] > savings, building, or friendly societies box club1728 building-society1848 mutual1869 slate club1888 susu1919 savings and loan1962 thrift1981 thrift institution1982 merry-go-round1989 1888 Daily News 27 Dec. 7/5 He would pay her in the evening, as he was in a slate club. 1891 J. F. Wilkinson Mutual Thrift 60 Taking London, we have a large number of old dividing clubs located in the East End, and known as ‘Birmingham societies’ or ‘Slate clubs’. slate-frame n. (see quot. 1858). ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-frame, the narrow wood border for a writing-slate or slate-book. slate-galiot n. a vessel carrying slates. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > cargo vessel > [noun] > carrying other cargoes stone-boatc1336 ballast boat1665 mast ship1666 luggage-boat1720 hide-drogher1841 oil ship1851 blubber-boat1884 slate-galiot1887 nitre ship1896 treasure-galleon1898 treasure-ship1900 1887 E. Dowden Life Shelley I. v. 235 When at length they set sail in a slate-galiot, a storm whirled them quite up to the north of Ireland. slate house n. Scottish a house with a slated roof. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > a house > types of house > [noun] > house of specific material or construction thatch-house1521 slate house1554 thack housec1600 frame house1627 log-house1662 straw1665 thatch1693 tin-house1798 fog house1799 leaf house1811 rock house1818 black house1819 blockhouse1821 white house1824 slab-and-bark house1826 brown house1845 brush house1854 soddy1877 hurdle-housea1879 bottle house1913 stucco1922 prefab1942 Portal house1944 Airey1945 yali1962 1554 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 198 De domo tegulata, vulgo ane sklait hous. 1775 M. J. Armstrong Compan. Map of Peebles 108 A wild and solitary site for a slate house, yet proper for a hunting seat. † slate-incense n. Obsolete ? (cf. note to slat n.¹). ΚΠ 1470–1 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 217 In incenso vocato Sclate-incense empto ad deserviendum in choro festis duplicibus principalibus, nil hoc anno. 1484–5 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 222. slate-knife n. a knife used for splitting slates. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > [noun] > slating equipment ripper1823 slate-knife1825 slate-axe1828 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 622 The instruments used in splitting and cleaning slates are, slate-knives, axes, bars, and wedges. slate-land n. (see quot. 1733). ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > wild or uncultivated land > [noun] > barren land or desert desert?c1225 bare1683 slate-land1733 barren1784 mesquite1834 badlands1850 hardscrabble1859 pindan1888 in (also up) the blue1963 wasteland1966 1733 J. Tull Horse-hoing Husbandry xiv. 90 Poor Slate Land [Note lying upon Slate or Stone]. slate-nail n. a nail used to fix a slate on a roof. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails roof nail1284 shingle-nail1303 spoon-nailc1310 tile-pin1338 lead-nail1355 spoon-brod1361 stone-brod1363 stone-nail1469 slate-pin1579 shank1716 slate-peg1875 slate-nail1880 1880 A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 4) 300 He now, with the forefinger of his left hand, got hold of a slate-nail. slate-peg n. a peg used to fix a slate on a roof. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails roof nail1284 shingle-nail1303 spoon-nailc1310 tile-pin1338 lead-nail1355 spoon-brod1361 stone-brod1363 stone-nail1469 slate-pin1579 shank1716 slate-peg1875 slate-nail1880 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2201/1 Slate-peg, a kind of nail used in securing slates on a roof. slate-pin n. a pin used to fix a slate on a roof. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > nail > roofing nails roof nail1284 shingle-nail1303 spoon-nailc1310 tile-pin1338 lead-nail1355 spoon-brod1361 stone-brod1363 stone-nail1469 slate-pin1579 shank1716 slate-peg1875 slate-nail1880 1579 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) I. 312 Lathe,..slatepyne, and nayles. 1736 F. Drake Eboracum i. ii. 64 At the end of each tile is a hole that would receive a common slate pin. slate-saw n. (see quot. 1875). ΚΠ 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2201/2 Slate-saw, a machine for trimming the edges of slate-slabs to shape. slate-works n. ΚΠ 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Slate-works, a yard, etc. where slate is sawn or shaped. slate-writer n. a person who practises slate-writing. ΘΚΠ the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun] > spirit-writing > slate-writing > slate-writer slate-writer1902 1902 F. Podmore Mod. Spiritualism II. iv. ii. 221 Professional slate-writers. 1949 G. B. Shaw Buoyant Billions 7 They have a cohort of Slate Writers and Writing Mediums. slate-writing n. in spiritualism: writing performed on a slate, attributed to the agency of a medium, but without physical contact of the medium and the writing instrument. ΘΚΠ the world > the supernatural > the occult > spiritualism > [noun] > spirit-writing > slate-writing slate-writing1885 1885 Cent. Mag. July 382/2 She can do the trance business, and knocks, and slate-writing, and all that sort of thing. 1898 Sci. Amer. 8 Oct. 229/2 There has probably been nothing that has made more converts to spiritualism than the much talked of ‘Slate Writing Test’. 1904 I. K. Funk Widow's Mite 369 Slate-writing has given us a class of physical phenomena which is under special suspicion because of the great amount of fraud perpetrated through it. 1905 Smart Set Sept. 110/1 There is only one true magic. And it is not slate-writing, toe-joint snapping, fortune telling or the vending of charms. 1930 H. Carrington Story of Psychic Sci. vi. 147 The majority of messages..have been upon slates—hence the former popularity of ‘slate-writing’ mediums. 1977 B. Inglis Natural & Supernat. xxviii. 277 Slade was one of the practitioners of the new technique: slate-writing. slate-yard n. ΚΠ 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. i. 6 I..visited slate-yards and quarries. Draft additions January 2005 Film (originally U.S.). A board on which identifying details such as scene or take numbers, film title, and director's name are recorded, and which is held in front of the camera at the beginning and end of each take; a clapperboard. Hence: any one of the individual spells of shooting which, as opposed to scenes, are numbered sequentially during filming. Also in extended use (chiefly Sound Recording): recorded introductory material supplying identifying details on a recording or film. ΚΠ 1924 Los Angeles Times 27 July iii. 19/4 So far as Mr. Cummings is concerned, the continuity need only be written so that the cameraman can keep track of the scenes on his slate. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 129/1 When the picture and sound recorders are running in synchronism, the slate is shown in front of the camera and the clapper arm is banged down. 1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 640/1 The first shot taken is ‘slate one, take one’... Thus every shot has two numbers: the slate number, indicating its place in the shooting schedule, and the scene number, indicating the place in the script. 1982 T. Barr Acting for Camera iv. xxvi. 190 The assistant holds the slate where the camera can photograph it. 1999 D. Morgan Monty Python Speaks! 89 We got to slate one take seventeen, and I think they made it ‘slate two take one’ so it wouldn't look so embarrassing. 2002 T. Holman Sound for Film & Television (ed. 2) v. 112/1 The recording machine records a slate from an open microphone, then re-records the playback directly from the second machine. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † slaten.² Cant. Obsolete. 1. (See quots.) ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > household linen > bedclothes > [noun] > sheet sheetc1250 linclothsa1474 bed-sheet1481 slate1567 1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Eii Some of these goe with slates at their backes, which is a sheete to lye in a nightes. 1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Fiiii Their mothers carries them at their backes in their slates, whiche is their shetes. [Hence in later works; in the Dict. Cant. Crew (a 1700) given as slat.] a1640 J. Fletcher et al. Beggers Bush iii. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ll4/1 To Mill from the Ruffmans, commision and slates. 2. A half-crown. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > half-crown or thirty pennies mancusOE half-crowna1549 George1660 St George1661 slate1699 trooper1699 tosheroon1859 tosh1912 half a crack1933 1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Slate, a half Crown. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021). slaten.³ Brit. /sleɪt/, U.S. /sleɪt/ Etymology: < slate v.³ A severe criticism; a slating. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > [noun] > severe > instance of cockshy1822 smasher1828 slasher1849 scarifier1855 slating1870 slate1887 savaging1905 excoriation1924 caning1933 pasting1974 handbagging1987 1887 A. Lang Bks. & Bookmen 19 ‘Slate’ is a professional term for a severe criticism. 1889 D. Hannay Life F. Marryat 157 Carlyle's savage ‘slate’ of him [Marryat] is unjust. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022). slaten.⁴ Etymology: Of obscure origin. Scottish. rare. A slovenly, dirty person. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty person > [noun] mesela1400 scabbardc1440 slotterbugc1440 drivel1498 sow1508 wallydraigle?a1513 sloven1530 filthy1553 ketterela1572 slabberer1611 slubberdegullion1612 Grobian1621 slabberdegullion1653 slobber-chops1670 slate1718 haverel1720 slobberer1732 slummock1760 fleabag1805 slush1825 slob1876 trashbag1887 crumb1918 garbage can1925 hog1932 crud1940 sordid1959 grot1970 1718 A. Ramsay Christ's-kirk on Green ii. 16 Had aff [= hold off], quoth she, Ye filthy Slate. 1806 J. Hogg Poems 74 (Jam.) The blether-lipped drunken slate! This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2021). slatev.¹ Brit. /sleɪt/, U.S. /sleɪt/ Forms: Also 1500s sclate, slaytt, 1600s Scottish skleat. Etymology: < slate n.¹ 1. transitive. To cover or roof with slates. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (intransitive)] > slate slate1530 society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > roof > tile, slate, or shingle heela1387 tile1467 slatc1475 slate1530 shingle1562 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 706/1 It is better to sclate a house with stone than to tyle it. 1554 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) II. 470 Covenauntted wyth Odam to slaytt the new Buylding. 1605 in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) II. 491 Thomas Yates to slate y^e Hall. 1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 108 Houses..built..warme and defensiue..as if they were tiled and slated. 1637–50 J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (Wodrow Soc.) 471 Walls were not repaired nor the roofe skleated till three yeares after. 1708 S. Sewall Diary 23 Aug. (1973) I. 600 I pleaded that Mr. Dudley had been at great Charge to Slate his House. 1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §947 The gables are to be slated over. 1883 Law Times Rep. 49 138/2 The defendant..had on several occasions employed S. to slate houses for him. absolute.1703 J. Swift Vanbrug's House in Misc. (1711) 365 A Lyrick Ode would Slate; a Catch Would Tile; an Epigram would Thatch.1941 Cross & Plough Ladyday 9/2 To shelter him, man had to fell timber,..to burn bricks and tiles, to thatch and to slate. 2. a. To put down (a name, etc.) on a writing-slate; to set down, book, for something; also const. to with infinitive. Also, to plan, propose, or schedule (an event). Chiefly U.S. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > written record > record in writing [verb (transitive)] writeeOE awriteeOE markOE titlea1325 record1340 registera1393 accordc1450 chronicle1460 to write upa1475 calendar1487 enrol1530 prickc1540 scripture1540 to set down1562 report1600 reservea1616 tabulatea1646 to take down1651 actuate1658 to commit to writing (also paper)1695 to mark down1881 slate1883 the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (transitive)] > arrange > arrange or schedule make1676 schedule1862 slate1883 card1885 1883 Daily News 18 Sept. 6/2 He had been ‘slated’ for a month—that is, his name was entered upon a slate in the porter's lodge, which indicated that he was dangerously ill. 1896 Harper's Mag. June 25/1 So the Professor was unconsciously slated for the office of hero. 1904 F. Lynde Grafters xxvii. 343 Griggs was on for the night run eastward with the express; and ‘Dutch’ Tischer had found himself slated to take the fast mail west. 1936 P. G. Wodehouse Laughing Gas ix. 94 You ought to be thanking me on your knees for warning you. Yes, sir, unless you pull up mighty quick, you're slated to get yours. 1944 College Topics (Univ. Virginia) 30 Mar. 3 No one has been slated for the 220, but Wenger may run in that event. 1960 Times 14 Sept. 12/6 I was intrigued to see this heading in a Charleston paper ‘Church Tour slated’... It turned out to be nothing more than the announcement of an annual plantation tour..to raise funds for the local Protestant Episcopal Church. 1966 G. F. Allen Brit. Rail after Beeching xii. 357 Of the Southern Region's locomotive works, Brighton had already been shut down and Ashford (Kent) had been slated for closure. 1971 Wall St. Jrnl. 22 July w1/2 The Treasury is offering new 7%, 10-year bonds... Other cash-raising moves are also slated. 1973 Oxf. Mag. 4 May 10/1 When Americans mean to do something they slate it, rather than timetable or table it. When they do table it, they don't mean to do it. 1979 Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 3 a/3 Gov. Bruce King and..Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald are slated to attend the ceremony. b. spec. to propose or nominate a candidate for political office; to form a slate (slate n.¹ 2c) of candidates. U.S. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [verb (transitive)] > adopt as candidate adopt1797 slate1804 society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [verb (intransitive)] > form list of candidates slate1961 1804 J. Pearson Let. 26 Nov. in Papers of John Steele (1924) I. 441 The Federalists have not, nor do they intend slating a candidate. 1912 T. Dreiser Financier xxvii. 297 Stener, although he had served two terms, was slated for re-election. 1961 T. H. White Making of President 1960 iv. 100 On one huge ballot the Charlestonian was offered fifty-three individual choices of candidates if he wished to ponder his selections. Such a mystifying ballot requires simplification..supplied by ‘slating’. The local bosses, the union chiefs, the statewide candidates, the education-board candidates, even the veterans organizations, all make cross-alliances to settle on, then print, a ‘slate’ of approved candidates among the multitude of names. 3. To scrape (a skin or hide) with a slater to remove loosened hairs. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with skins > work with skins [verb (transitive)] > clean hide > remove hair pull1550 hair1802 grain1841 unhair1845 slate1885 fine-hair1891 1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xxxii. 527 Upon removal from the bate the skins are ‘slated’, which is the removal of the fine hair remaining upon the skins after the unhairing operation. Draft additions January 2005 Film and Sound Recording (originally U.S.). a. intransitive. To provide identifying information on a film or recording, esp. by using a slate. Frequently in imperative. Cf. slate n.¹ Additions. ΚΠ 1953 D. Livingston Film & Director vii. 107 When slating, the slate boy calls out the scene and take numbers and then claps together the two pieces of wood. 1972 J. Quick & T. Labau Handbk. Film Production xvi. 178 The director then calls, ‘Camera!’ and when the camera has been brought up to speed the cameraman calls ‘Speed.’ The director then calls, ‘Slate.’ 1987 G. Kindem Moving Image x. 253/1 In the absence of a clapboard, a person can call out ‘slate!’ followed by a sharp handclap. 2000 M. Saint Nicholas Actor's Guide (rev. ed.) xii. 129 If the camera is rolling, you will ‘slate’ by saying your name in a very warm and friendly manner, and then you'll go straight into your reading. b. transitive. To identify (a scene, take, etc.) by means of a slate. ΚΠ 1983 E. Ward & A. Silver Film Director's Team iii. 94 A camera assistant slates the scene with clapperboard indicating scene number and take number. 1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 37/3 (caption) Assistant cameraman..is about to slate the scene with the automatic slating device on the matte box. 2003 T. Souvignier Loops & Grooves ix. 81 If you have good notes from the recording session, and slated each take, it should be easy to find the right sections. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022). slatev.² Brit. /sleɪt/, U.S. /sleɪt/ Etymology: apparently < slate n.¹ Sense 2 appears to have originated in Ireland. slang and colloquial. 1. transitive. (See quot. 1864) ? Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > strike [verb (transitive)] > strike off with a blow > a person's hat to fly a tile1819 slate1864 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 158 Another point of amusement is flying a tile or slating a man as the phrases of the Stock Exchange describe it. 1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) Slate, to knock the hat over one's eyes, to bonnet. 2. a. To beat or thrash severely. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impact > striking > beating or repeated striking > beat [verb (transitive)] > specifically a person to-beatc893 threshOE bustc1225 to lay on or upon?c1225 berrya1250 to-bunea1250 touchc1330 arrayc1380 byfrapc1380 boxc1390 swinga1400 forbeatc1420 peal?a1425 routa1425 noddlea1450 forslinger1481 wipe1523 trima1529 baste1533 waulk1533 slip1535 peppera1550 bethwack1555 kembc1566 to beat (a person) black and blue1568 beswinge1568 paik1568 trounce1568 canvass1573 swaddle?1577 bebaste1582 besoop1589 bumfeage1589 dry-beat1589 feague1589 lamback1589 clapperclaw1590 thrash1593 belam1595 lam1595 beswaddle1598 bumfeagle1598 belabour1600 tew1600 flesh-baste1611 dust1612 feeze1612 mill1612 verberate1614 bethumpa1616 rebuke1619 bemaul1620 tabor1624 maula1627 batterfang1630 dry-baste1630 lambaste1637 thunder-thump1637 cullis1639 dry-banga1640 nuddle1640 sauce1651 feak1652 cotton1654 fustigate1656 brush1665 squab1668 raddle1677 to tan (a person's) hide1679 slam1691 bebump1694 to give (a person) his load1694 fag1699 towel1705 to kick a person's butt1741 fum1790 devel1807 bray1808 to beat (also scare, etc.) someone's daylights out1813 mug1818 to knock (a person) into the middle of next week1821 welt1823 hidea1825 slate1825 targe1825 wallop1825 pounce1827 to lay into1838 flake1841 muzzle1843 paste1846 looder1850 frail1851 snake1859 fettle1863 to do over1866 jacket1875 to knock seven kinds of —— out of (a person)1877 to take apart1880 splatter1881 to beat (knock, etc.) the tar out of1884 to —— the shit out of (a person or thing)1886 to do up1887 to —— (the) hell out of1887 to beat — bells out of a person1890 soak1892 to punch out1893 stoush1893 to work over1903 to beat up1907 to punch up1907 cream1929 shellac1930 to —— the bejesus out of (a person or thing)1931 duff1943 clobber1944 to fill in1948 to bash up1954 to —— seven shades of —— out of (a person or thing)1976 to —— seven shades out of (a person or thing)1983 beast1990 becurry- fan- 1825 A. Knapp & W. Baldwin Newgate Cal. IV. 149/1 Slate him, the Dublin word for an unmerciful beating. 1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. 159 Putting his head in cautiously for fear of drunken Irishmen, who might be seized with the national impulse to ‘slate’ him. b. Military. To punish (an enemy) severely. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > victory > make victorious [verb (transitive)] > punish enemy chastisec1515 slate1854 attrit1915 society > authority > punishment > [verb (transitive)] > severely visita1382 to-punisha1400 overpunisha1639 to give (a person) hell1836 to give a person what for1852 slate1854 to give it in the neck1881 to come down1888 bean1910 scrub1911 cane1925 to gie (or give) (someone) laldy1935 1854 Major Champion in A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (1877) V. 375 ‘Slate 'em, slate 'em, my boys!’ was his exulting..adjuration. 1885 C. W. Wilson From Korti to Khartum (1886) 163 Now we shall get ‘slated’, I thought..; a few good shots might have picked off every one on deck. 1902 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness 107 Their smaller guns..kept it up far into the night, slating the reverse slopes of the Krantz with wonderful accuracy. in extended use.1883 Harper's Mag. Apr. 688/1 A billiard table in an overcrowded hotel, even with a railway rug around one, is apt to ‘slate’ the sleeper before morning. 3. a. To assail with reproof or abuse; to rate or reprimand; to scold severely. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > rebuke or reprove [verb (transitive)] > severely dressc1405 wipe1523 to take up1530 whip1530 to shake upa1556 trounce1607 castigatea1616 lasha1616 objurgate1616 thunderstrike1638 snub1672 drape1683 cut1737 rowa1798 score1812 to dress down1823 to pitch into ——1823 wig1829 to row (a person) up1838 to catch or get Jesse1839 slate1840 drop1853 to drop (down) to or on (to)1859 to give (a person) rats1862 to jump upon1868 to give (a person) fits1871 to give it to someone (pretty) stiff1880 lambaste1886 ruck1899 bollock1901 bawl1903 scrub1911 burn1914 to hang, draw, and quarter1930 to tear a strip off1940 to tear (someone) off a strip1940 brass1943 rocket1948 bitch1952 tee1955 fan- 1840 Blackwood's Mag. 48 210 I weep over the realm's decay, and have some notion of slating—excuse me for borrowing a word from the vocabulary of the new ministerial and courtly party of Ribandism—Lord Palmerston. 1860 Slang Dict. 218 Slate, to pelt with abuse. 1866 J. E. Brogden Provinc. Words Lincs. Slate, to scold. 1881 E. Lynn Linton My Love! II. 306 Val slated me hard enough. So we may cry quits over that. b. To criticize (a book or author) severely; to castigate, cut up. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > criticism > criticize [verb (transitive)] > severely to be sharp upon1561 crossbite1571 scarify1582 canvass1590 maul1592 slasha1652 fib1665 to be severe on (or upon)1672 scalp1676 to pull to (or in) pieces1703 roast1710 to cut up1762 tomahawk1815 to blow sky-high1819 row1826 excoriate1833 scourge1835 target1837 slate1848 scathe1852 to take apart1880 soak1892 pan1908 burn1914 slam1916 sandbag1919 to put the blast on (someone)1929 to tear down1938 clobber1944 handbag1952 rip1961 monster1976 1848 A. Watts in Life (1884) II. 258 And, when they'd been by critics slated, Had always the review to show 'em. 1870 ‘Ouida’ Puck II. i. 6 That wretched Mouse, when he wants to slate a very good novel. 1890 G. Saintsbury Ess. Eng. Lit. p. xxv You slated this [book], and it has gone through twenty editions. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022). slatev.³ Brit. /sleɪt/, U.S. /sleɪt/, Scottish English /slet/ Forms: Also Middle English slayt, 1500s–1600s Scottish slait. Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymon: Norse sleita. Etymology: < Old Norse sleita, corresponding to Old English slǽtan : see sleat v.¹ northern and Scottish. 1. transitive. To incite or set on (a dog). Also const. on, at, against (a person, etc.). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > cause or incite to attack > spec an animal (usually dog) sleata1225 baita1375 slatea1400 shout1888 a1400 Metrical Hom. (Vernon MS.) in Herrig Archiv 57 266 Þei sayh beestes..and þei hem bayted Wiþ houndes þat þei on hem slayted. c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora 657 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 118 Þat feynd..slaytyt þaim full fellonly, & bad þai suld þat hure wery. ?1553 (c1501) G. Douglas Palice of Honour (London) i. l. 324 in Shorter Poems (1967) 28 Diane..hym in forme hes of a hart translatit: I saw (allace) his houndis at him slatit. a1568 Balnevis in Bannatyne MS. 393 Thairfoir had bound thocht scho be found, Or dreid thy doggis be slaittit. 1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (at cited word) To slate the dog at any one. 1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Slate, to set on, to incite. 1876 C. C. Robinson Gloss. Words Dial. Mid-Yorks. 126 I'll slate my dog against thine. 1896 W. W. Skeat & T. Hallam Pegge's Two Coll. Derbicisms 63. 2. To bait, assail, or drive, with dogs. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > impelling or driving > impel or drive [verb (transitive)] > impel or drive animates > with dogs slate1684 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make an attack upon [verb (transitive)] > with dogs slate1684 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > animal baiting > bait [verb (transitive)] > with dogs sleatc1000 baita1300 slate1684 1684 Yorkshire Dial. (ed. 2) 43 I did Slate him back than with our Dog. 1684 Yorkshire Dial. (ed. 2) 106 To slate a Beast, is to hound a Dog at him. 1755 Guthrie's Trial 143 (Jam.) It is much to be lamented, that people professing his name, should be so slaited and enslaved by transgression as many are. Derivatives ˈslating n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > animal baiting > [noun] > dog-baiting slatinga1400 a1400 K. Alis. (Laud) 200 Þer was..Of lyons chace, of bere baityng, A-bay of bore, of bole slatyng. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.¹a1340n.²1567n.³1887n.⁴1718v.¹1530v.²1825v.³a1400
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slaten.1

Compounds

Draft additions January 2005

† slaten.2

slaten.3

slaten.4

slatev.1

Draft additions January 2005

slatev.2

slatev.3

Derivatives

slaten.¹

† slaten.²

slaten.³

slaten.⁴

slatev.¹

slatev.²

slatev.³