Crossword clues for slacken
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Slacken \Slack"en\, n. (Metal.) A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion. [Written also slakin.]
Slack \Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. t.
To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage.
--Wycklif (Acts xxvii. 40)-
To neglect; to be remiss in. [Obs.]
--Shak.Slack not the pressage.
--Dryden. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime.
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To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry. ``Rancor for to slack.''
--Chaucer.I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to arms.
--Addison.In this business of growing rich, poor men should slack their pace.
--South.With such delay Well plased, they slack their course.
--Milton. -
To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease.
To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this ill mansion.
--Milton.Air-slacked lime, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime.
Slack \Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Slacked, Slackened; p. pr. & vb. n. Slacking, Slackening.] [See Slack, a.]
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 be negligent.
To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks.
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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.
To languish; to fail; to flag.
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To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. [Obs.]
That through your death your lineage should slack.
--Chaucer.They will not of that firste purpose slack.
--Chaucer.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., from slack (adj.) + -en (1). Related: Slackened; slackening.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack. 2 (context transitive English) To make slack, less taut, or less intense. 3 To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.
WordNet
v. become slow or slower; "Production slowed" [syn: slow, slow down, slow up, slack]
make less active or fast; "He slackened his pace as he got tired"; "Don't relax your efforts now" [syn: slack, slack up, relax]
become looser or slack; "the rope slackened"
make slack as by lessening tension or firmness [syn: remit]
Usage examples of "slacken".
Arrived some cables-length from the cetacean, the speed slackened, and the oars dipped noiselessly into the quiet waters.
In two or three minutes I went on again, and I saw the same people, whom I could not have caught up if they had not slackened their pace.
The thirst which I had gotten the daie before was so increased, that I was prouoked now to slacken the same, or rather inticed with the faire beautie of the instrument, the coolenes whereof was such, as betwixt my lippes me thought it stirred and trembled.
I shut all but an inch or so of earthward window, and dropped with a slackening velocity.
I watched the fellah until it was too dark: becoming smaller, inching closer to the sea with every swell but never slackening his pace.
I could let go the ladder while I slackened the rope without any fear of its falling over, as it had caught to the parapet by the third rung.
At the end of summer the work was slackened somewhat, so there was more time for sport: spell-boat races down in the harbor, feats of illusion in the courts of the Great House, and in the long evenings, in the groves, wild games of hide-and-seek where hiders and seeker were both invisible and only voices moved laughing and calling among the trees, following and dodging the quick, faint werelights.
When I saw that the postillion was slackening his speed, I increased the amount of the present I was going to make him, and once more we rushed along at a headlong pace.
Gord increased his pace, which he had slackened after meeting the keches, back to a run once more.
The two contingents, having mustered in Bekla upon the first slackening of the rains and spent several days in equipping and refitting, had been assembled by Kembri at dawn that morning in the Caravan Market.
The main-sheet was gradually slackened, the great sail took the wind and added its powerful action to that of the fore-sails.
But when he heard the cheering and saw the waving crowd up the hill, Yang had slackened his stride to allow Zhoa to run on ahead.
While putting these questions to myself, I slackened my pace, and fixed my eyes on the great gate, which I just perceived.
Ellis bit out, and left, banging the door of the suite as he left, and she slackened, looking at her croissant without real interest.
The DUNCAN appeared to glide over a long prairie, which Paganel justly compared to the Pampas, and her speed slackened a little.