Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of slack.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the evasion of work or duty

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "How do you like Criterion's paces?" he said, after they had entered the park and were slacking from a canter to a walk.

    Daniel Deronda George Eliot 1849

  • (And here, I thought we had been slacking, that is, until yesterday when we ran about like freaks to get the place cleaned up ….)

    Tigers & Strawberries » Bison, Part II 2005

  • Emergency calls slacking off but conditions still require caution today to allow EMSA to move back to posting trucks around the metro to await calls, rather than move

    WN.com - Articles related to Paying attention to the job market in Oklahoma A Q&A with Platt College's president and CEO 2010

  • She now volunteers at least three days a week for the campaign; she says she's been "slacking" but it's that sort of dedication and devotion to the Barack Obama campaign that make Megan Meagher one of Richmond, VA's hometown heroes.

    Stefanie Fontanez: Starting an Obama Group Gives Supporter Confidence, Diverse Community 2008

  • I'd guess the early roots of our kind of slacking not counting slack forefathers of the Woodstock generation – occurred with the demoralizing election of George Bush I in 1988, the actual filming of Slacker in 1989, and the implosion of the economy in 1990.

    4/28/03 Brooklyn, NY Is slacking 2003

  • I'd guess the early roots of our kind of slacking not counting slack forefathers of the Woodstock generation – occurred with the demoralizing election of George Bush I in 1988, the actual filming of Slacker in 1989, and the implosion of the economy in 1990.

    4/30/03 Brooklyn, NY I'm so 2003

  • In a sense, such stories are certainly to be regarded as a protest against truth-dodging, against cheap optimism, against "slacking," whether in literature or in life.

    Definitions: Essays in Contemporary Criticism Henry Seidel Canby 1919

  • Subbituminous coal is generally distinguishable from lignite by its black color and its apparent freedom from distinctly woody texture and structure, and from bituminous coal by its loss of moisture and the consequent breaking down of "slacking" that it undergoes when subjected to alternate wetting and drying.

    The Economic Aspect of Geology 1915

  • In France the armament works are going night and day, and the men work in shifts of 24 hours -- even the women only get one day off in a week -- while in Glasgow the men are sticking out for strict labour conditions, and are "slacking" from Friday night till late on Tuesday morning, and then demanding extra pay for overtime.

    My War Experiences in Two Continents Betty Keays-Young [Editor] Salmon 1890

  • We guess Philip Roth is kind of slacking in that regard.

    All Stories | The New York Observer 2010

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