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What is "slack"

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slack
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
slack
I.adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Corporate profits have been hurt by slack demand.
▪ I let the rope go slack as the boat came closer.
▪ If the rope between climbers is slack, one slip can be fatal.
▪ Keep the rope slack till I say `pull'.
▪ The fan belt is a little slack.
▪ The report criticized airport security as "disgracefully slack."
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Her body went momentarily slack with relief, or was it disappointment?
▪ Savings and loan institutions, for example, were once high slack systems, and appropriately so in a regulated industry.
▪ She didn't want to come against the flat slack flesh.
▪ This can result due to reductions in overmanning and improvements in other types of slack management procedures.
▪ Today a changing environment has forced many such organization either to become low slack systems or to go out of business.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
cut
▪ And I didn't cut myself any slack for having missed time in school.
▪ These two big, hardheaded women, one player, one coach, have not learned to cut each other any slack.
dress
▪ She dressed quickly in slacks and a full-necked jumper.
▪ She was dressed in slacks and a sheepskin jacket, her blonde hair bound with a scarf.
go
▪ There's no elastic been invented that doesn't go all slack the minute a camera comes out.
▪ We were rushing back to deal with Mr McCrindle's fence because it had gone slack, and for that reason only.
▪ Whereas Donald chose to impart the news himself that Mr McCrindle's fence had gone slack.
pick
▪ What she needs is for the father of her children to pick up some slack.
▪ The government is appealing to business to pick up the slack, but there are few ears to hear.
▪ Women buy into that thinking, too, and so pick up the slack for men.
▪ As employers drop out of the health insurance business, the government Medi-Cal program generally picks up the slack.
▪ It is increasingly up to the individual to pick up the slack and act swiftly, doing well by doing good.
▪ Photo paper sales picked up the slack, the company said.
take
▪ Banks will not take up the slack.
▪ To the states' taxpayers who will have to take up the slack as federal aid recedes?
▪ But developing nations, where 2 billion people still have no electricity, have taken up the slack.
▪ Other industries have taken up the slack.
▪ So the Flamethrower lit up to take up the slack.
wear
▪ Gebrec had been wearing blue slacks yesterday morning.
▪ He was a short, fair-complexioned man wearing blue slacks, a tieless white shirt, and wrap-around sunglasses.
▪ If I am going to be inside, very seldom do I wear slacks, but that's professional, I feel.
▪ Sheila sauntered in wearing slacks and an artificial-silk print blouse with a bow at around 7: 30.
▪ Under his white coat Lorrimer was wearing grey slacks and a tweed jacket.
▪ Lucy never wore slacks or make-up, except when he permitted it in order to cover a bruise.
▪ He had short dark hair and was wearing casual slacks and a light anorak.
▪ Her companion, tall and slim with hard eyes, wore blue slacks and a white shirt opened wide at the neck.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Leave a little slack in the line.
▪ People in San Francisco seem to have no slack in their lives anymore.
▪ The workforce has been reduced, so there's very little slack in the system.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ An ordinary plaid blouse, and slacks, I decide.
▪ Hand coils create unwanted slack and immediately tighten around the hand under load, trapping the fingers and preventing an effective arrest.
▪ He wore a short-sleeved shirt and pale cinnamon slacks.
▪ Lucy never wore slacks or make-up, except when he permitted it in order to cover a bruise.
▪ Sheila sauntered in wearing slacks and an artificial-silk print blouse with a bow at around 7: 30.
▪ The idea of Jim Morrison in a pair of black cotton slacks doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?
▪ Therese was huddled in nearly every garment she possessed, slacks, jumpers, her shabby grey coat and the multicoloured shawl.
III.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
off
▪ But Le Carré's not slacking off.
▪ A lifetime of low-level employment is a high price to pay for slacking off in junior high.
▪ I guess I thought that since everything was starting to turn around, I could slack off a little.
▪ Antonio Ramos, a mariachi since he turned 12, has seen the work for mariachis slack off too.
▪ But what about the worker who slacks off routinely?
▪ Some one wrote in all capital letters that unqualified disabled workers were slacking off and getting special privileges.
▪ I was after him with a stick for a while but slacked off.
▪ There can be no excuse for slacking off.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "You start tomorrow at nine," he told them, "and no slacking, or there'll be trouble."
▪ She called me into her office and accused me of slacking and taking too many holidays!
▪ This is no time to be slacking off!
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A lifetime of low-level employment is a high price to pay for slacking off in junior high.
▪ Antonio Ramos, a mariachi since he turned 12, has seen the work for mariachis slack off too.
▪ But Le Carré's not slacking off.
▪ I guess I thought that since everything was starting to turn around, I could slack off a little.
▪ It did not slack in the least until Centreville was reached.
▪ The horse slacked his pace, swung his neck down to ease the tension in it, and relaxed his tail.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
slack

nonmoving \nonmoving\ adj. Not moving. Opposite of moving. [Narrower terms: at rest, inactive, motionless, static, still; becalmed ; {dead(prenominal), stagnant, standing(prenominal), still; frozen(predicate), rooted(predicate), stock-still ; {inert ; {sitting ; {slack ; {stationary ; {immobile, unmoving] Also See: immobile.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
slack

"coal dust," mid-15c., sleck, of uncertain origin, probably related to Middle Dutch slacke, Middle Low German slecke "slag, small pieces left after coal is screened," perhaps related to slagge "splinter flying off metal when it is struck" (see slag (n.)).

slack

Old English slæc "remiss, lax, characterized by lack of energy, sluggish, indolent, languid; slow, gentle, easy," from Proto-Germanic *slakas (cognates: Old Saxon slak, Old Norse slakr, Old High German slah "slack," Middle Dutch lac "fault, lack"), from PIE root *(s)leg- "to be slack" (see lax).\n

\nSense of "not tight" (in reference to things) is first recorded c.1300. As an adverb from late 14c. Slack-key (1975) translates Hawaiian ki ho'alu. Slack water (n.) "time when tide is not flowing" is from 1769. Slack-handed "remiss" is from 1670s. Slack-baked "baked imperfectly, half-baked" is from 1823; figuratively from 1840.

slack

early 14c., "cessation" (of pain, grief, etc.), from slack (adj.). Meaning "a cessation of flow in a current or tide" is from 1756; that of "still stretch of a river" is from 1825. Meaning "loose part or end" (of a rope, sail, etc.) is from 1794; hence figurative senses in take up the slack (1930 figuratively) and slang cut (someone) some slack (1968). Meaning "quiet period, lull" is from 1851. Slacks "loose trousers" first recorded 1824, originally military.

slack

1510s, "to moderate, make slack," back-formed from slack (adj.) after the original verb veered into the specialized sense of slake. Meaning "be remiss, inactive or idle, fail to exert oneself" is attested from 1540s; current use is probably a re-coining from c.1904 (see slacker, and compare Old English slacful "lazy," sleacmodnes "laziness"). Related: Slacked; slacking.

Wiktionary
slack

  1. 1 lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended. 2 Weak; not holding fast. 3 Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager. 4 Not violent, rapid, or pressing. adv. Slackly. n. 1 (context uncountable English) Small coal; coal dust. 2 (context countable English) A valley, or small, shallow dell. 3 (context uncountable English) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it. 4 (context countable English) A tidal marsh or shallow, that periodically fills and drains. v

  2. 1 To slacken. 2 (context obsolete English) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of. 3 (context followed by “off” English) to procrastinate; to be lazy 4 (context followed by “off” English) to refuse to exert effort 5 To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.

Related phrases:
WordNet
slack

  1. adj. not tense or taut; "the old man's skin hung loose and gray"; "slack and wrinkled skin"; "slack sails"; "a slack rope" [syn: loose]

  2. lacking in strength or firmness or resilience; "flaccid muscles"; "took his lax hand in hers"; "gave a limp handshake"; "a limp gesture as if waving away all desire to know" G.K.Chesterton; "a slack grip" [syn: flaccid, lax, limp]

  3. flowing with little speed as e.g. at the turning of the tide; "slack water"

  4. lacking in rigor or strictness; "such lax and slipshod ways are no longer acceptable"; "lax in attending classes"; "slack in maintaining discipline" [syn: lax]

slack

  1. v. avoid responsibilities and work, be idle

  2. be inattentive to, or neglect; "He slacks his attention"

  3. release tension on; "slack the rope"

  4. make less active or fast; "He slackened his pace as he got tired"; "Don't relax your efforts now" [syn: slacken, slack up, relax]

  5. become slow or slower; "Production slowed" [syn: slow, slow down, slow up, slacken]

  6. make less active or intense [syn: slake, abate]

  7. become less in amount or intensity; "The storm abated"; "The rain let up after a few hours" [syn: abate, let up, slack off, die away]

  8. cause to heat and crumble by treatment with water; "slack lime" [syn: slake]

slack

  1. n. dust consisting of a mixture of small coal fragments and coal dust and dirt that sifts out when coal is passed over a sieve

  2. a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality; "the team went into a slump"; "a gradual slack in output"; "a drop-off in attendance"; "a falloff in quality" [syn: slump, drop-off, falloff, falling off]

  3. a stretch of water without current or movement; "suddenly they were in slack water"

  4. the condition of being loose (not taut); "he hadn't counted on the slackness of the rope" [syn: slackness]

  5. a cord or rope or cable that is hanging loosely; "he took up the slack"

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Slack

Slack may refer to:

Slack (river)

The Slack is a long river in the Pas-de-Calais department, in northern France.

It rises at Hermelinghen on Mount Binôt, flows through Rinxent, Marquise, Beuvrequen, Slack (village near Ambleteuse) and flows into the English Channel in Ambleteuse next to Fort Mahon.

Slack (software)

Slack is a cloud-based team collaboration tool co-founded by Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Cal Henderson, and Serguei Mourachov. Slack began as an internal tool used by their company, Tiny Speck, in the development of Glitch, a now defunct online game.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "slack".

Panting, Abrim let his muscles go slack, black spots crowding the edge of his vision.

Through the space between slack lips, Vicki could hear heavy adenoidal breathing.

After shaping the slope of the barrel chime of yet another red oak slack barrel, Kharl set the adze down and blotted his forehead with the back of his forearm.

He was so ashamed of breaking ahimsa that his body fell slack and the other boys managed to pin him to the floor.

Waterford bowl with gold mountings, Jimmy in white slacks, an Armani pull and Gucci shoes, Tina in Westwood Lycra pants that hugged lipo-ed buttocks as if they were madly in love with them, Enya from the Lord of the Rings on the Bang and Oluf sen, all this and sorrow.

The climber was methodical, working multi-pitch, shooting out spindles of wire ahead that buried and fused into the rock, testing the weight of the anchors, squatting to plant rivets beneath us, roping hexes into the cracks, taking the slack, testing, belaying, moving on.

A pretty, black-haired girl in bright green slacks was sitting on the front steps, and Bingo paused.

Ruth smoothed the un-smoothable cloth of her bivouac slacks, like a woman not used to being without a skirt.

The door was opened by a tall, handsome man wearing a boater, white shirt and slacks as if about to go rowing in spite of the cold weather.

It was not the five-bladed slave whip, invented for the full and perfect punishment of an erring slave girl, but only a light, one-bladed bosk whip, little more than a switch of leather, a mere incitement and encouragement to better performance on the part of a slacking plow beast, but it struck my back like a hot snake and a rifle shot.

Deliberately Centaine thrust her left hand into the hip pocket of her slacks.

She fetched up on the slack of the anchors at the moment a big comber smashed her shoreward.

The Crackpot wore a shirt and slacks of motley, a flat mortarboard-type hat askew over his forehead.

Sachs recalled noting when she searched his room that he had no jeans, only cuffed slacks.

At present immense quantities of fuel are left at the mines, in the form of culm and slack, which, in quality, are much below the average output.