Thursday 16 April 2009

Word of the week: Slack

This one was inspired by my friend Richard Kolb's favorite distro: http://www.slackware.com/
which by the way has a new South-african derivative: http://www.kongoni.co.za/
This may not be that informative, but its still fun to call slackware lazy, weak, tardy, late, idle, quiet and slowing :)

slack

–adjective
1. not tight, taut, firm, or tense; loose: a slack rope.
2. negligent; careless; remiss: slack proofreading.
3. slow, sluggish, or indolent: He is slack in answering letters.
4. not active or busy; dull; not brisk: the slack season in an industry.
5. moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water.
6. weak; lax.
7. Nautical. easy (def. 15a).
–adverb
8. in a slack manner.
–noun
9. a slack condition or part.
10. the part of a rope, sail, or the like, that hangs loose, without strain upon it.
11. a decrease in activity, as in business or work: a sudden slack in output.
12. a period of decreased activity.
13. Geography. a cessation in a strong flow, as of a current at its turn.
14. a depression between hills, in a hillside, or in the land surface.
15. Prosody. (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
16. British Dialect. a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
–verb (used with object)
17. to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); shirk; leave undone: He slacked the most important part.
18. to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often fol. by up).
19. to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often fol. by off or out).
20. to slake (lime).
–verb (used without object)
21. to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
22. to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often fol. by up): Business is slacking up.
23. to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
24. to become slaked, as lime.
25. take up the slack,
a. to pull in or make taut a loose section of a rope, line, wire, etc.: Take up the slack before releasing the kite.
b. to provide or compensate for something that is missing or incomplete: New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME slac (adj.), OE sleac, slæc; c. ON slakr, OHG slach, L laxus lax


slack⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
slackly, adverb
slackness, noun


1. relaxed. 2. lazy, weak. 3. dilatory, tardy, late. 4. idle, quiet. 11. slowing, relaxation. 17. neglect. 18. reduce, slacken. 21. malinger.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=slack

No comments:

Post a Comment