What is "slur"

Slur \Slur\, n.

1. A mark or stain; hence, a slight reproach or disgrace; a stigma; a reproachful intimation; an innuendo. ``Gaining to his name a lasting slur.''
   --South.

2. A trick played upon a person; an imposition. [R.]

3. (Mus.) A mark, thus [[upslur] or [downslur]], connecting notes that are to be sung to the same syllable, or made in one continued breath of a wind instrument, or with one stroke of a bow; a tie; a sign of legato.

4. In knitting machines, a contrivance for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them.

Slur \Slur\ (sl[^u]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slurred (sl[^u]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Slurring (sl[^u]r"r[i^]ng).] [Cf. OE. sloor mud, clay, Icel. sl[=o]ra, slo[eth]ra, to trail or drag one's self along, D. sleuren, sloren, to train, to drag, to do negligently and slovenly, D. sloor, sloerie, a sluttish girl.]

1. To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.
   --Cudworth.

2. To disparage; to traduce.
   --Tennyson.

3. To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.

   With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.
   --Dryden.

4. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick. [R.]

   To slur men of what they fought for.
   --Hudibras.

5. To pronounce indistinctly; as, to slur syllables; to slur one's words.

6. (Mus.) To sing or perform in a smooth, gliding style; to connect smoothly in performing, as several notes or tones.
   --Busby.

7. (Print.) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.

"deliberate slight, disparaging or slighting remark," c.1600, from dialectal slur "thin or fluid mud," from Middle English slore (mid-15c.), cognate with Middle Low German sluren, Middle Dutch sloren "to trail in mud." Related to East Frisian sluren "to go about carelessly," Norwegian slora "to be careless." Literal sense of "a mark, stain, smear" is from 1660s in English. The musical sense (1746) is from the notion of "sliding." Meaning "act or habit of slurring" in speech is from 1882.

c.1600, "smear, soil by smearing," from slur (n.). Meaning "disparage depreciate" is from 1650s. In music, from 1746; of speech, from 1893. Related: Slurred; slurring.

n. 1 An insult or slight. 2 (context music English) A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation. 3 (context music English) The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie). 4 (context obsolete English) A trick or deception. 5 In knitting machines, a device for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them. vb. 1 To insult or slight. 2 To run together; to articulate poorly.

1. n. (music) a curved line spanning notes that are to be played legato

2. a disparaging remark; "in the 19th century any reference to female sexuality was considered a vile aspersion"; "it is difficult for a woman to understand a man's sensitivity to any slur on his virility" [syn: aspersion]

3. a blemish made by dirt; "he had a smudge on his cheek" [syn: smudge, spot, blot, daub, smear, smirch]

4. [also: slurring, slurred]

1. v. play smoothly or legato; "the pianist slurred the most beautiful passage in the sonata"

2. speak disparagingly of; e.g., make a racial slur; "your comments are slurring your co-workers"

3. utter indistinctly

4. become vague or indistinct; "The distinction between the two theories blurred" [syn: blur, dim] [ant: focus]

5. [also: slurring, slurred]

Slur may refer to:

• Pejorative, any term of disparagement
• Slur (phonology), unclear or abnormal enunciation
• Slur (music), a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played legato (smoothly)
• Slur, a character in Mega Man Battle Network; see List of Mega Man Battle Network characters

A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation, i.e. with legato articulation. A slur is denoted with a curved line generally placed over the notes if the stems point downward, and under them if the stems point upwards: