Slack | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Slăck, a.

adjective

a. [compar. SLACKER; superl. SLACKEST.] [A-S. sleac, slāc, O. Sax. slak, Icel. slakr, Sw. slak, O. D. & L. Ger. slack, M. H. Ger. slach, Prov. Ger. schlack.]

Not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a slack rope; slack rigging.
Weak; remiss; not holding fast; as, a slack hand.
Remiss; backward; not using due diligence; not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service.
Not violent; not rapid; slow; as, a slack pace.

Cæsar . . . about sunset, hoisting sail with a slack southwest, at midnight was becalmed. Milton. And when he thinks, his pace is slack. Wordsworth. Slack in stays (Naut.), slow in going about, as a ship. — Slack water, the time when the tide runs slowly, or the water is at rest; or the interval between the flux and reflux of the tide. Syn.—Loose; relaxed; weak; remiss; backward; abated; diminished; inactive; slow; tardy.

Slāck, adv.

adverb

adv. In a slack manner; partially; insufficiently; not intensely; as, slack-dried hops; bread slack baked.

Slăck, n.

noun

n. The part of a rope that hangs loose, having no strain upon it. Totten.

Slāck, n.

noun

n. [Cf. SLAG.] Small coal; coal broken into small pieces. [Eng.]

Slăck, n.

noun

n. [Scot. slack, slak, slate, an opening in the higher part of a mountain, when it becomes less steep, and forms a sort of pass, from slack, a.] A valley, or small, shallow dell. [Prov. Eng.] [Grose.]

Slăck or Slăck'en, v. i.

verbintransitive

(slăk'n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. SLACKED (slăkt), SLACKENED; p. pr. & vb. n. SLACKING, SLACKENING.] [A-S. sleacian, slacian, D. slaken, O. D. slaecken, Icel. & Sw. slakna.]

To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather.
To be remiss or backward; to neglect.
To lose cohesion, or the quality of adhesion; as, lime slacks and crumbles into powder.
To abate; to become less violent.

Whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. Milton.

To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens; the tide slackens.
To languish; to fall; to flag.

Slāck or Slāck’en, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To render slack; to lessen the tension of; to make less tense or tight; as, to slacken a rope or a bandage.

Sense 2. Especially, to render less earnest, violent, energetic, rapid, or decided;—applied to exertion, gait, heat, pain, and the like.

In this business of growing rich, men should slack their pace. South.

Well pleased, they slack their course. Milton.

Sense 3. To withhold; to use less liberally.

Sense 4. To deprive of cohesion by combining with water; to slake; as, to slack lime. See SLAKE.

Sense 5. To repress; to check.

I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence Unbent your thoughts and slackened ’em to arms. Addison.

Sense 6. To neglect; to put off. [Obs.]

Slack not the good presage. Dryden.

Air-slacked lime, lime slacked or reduced to powder by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carbonic acid and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime, in equal proportion by equivalents.

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