slat
noun /slæt/
/slæt/
- one of a series of thin flat pieces of wood, metal or plastic, used in furniture, fences, etc.
enlarge image- a gate made of wooden slats
- the slats of the venetian blinds
- (specialist) a part of the wing of an aircraft, on the front of the wing, that can be moved up or down to control movement in either direction compare flap (5)
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Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘roofing slate’): shortening of Old French esclat ‘splinter’, from esclater ‘to split’. The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.