Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal A large amount or number; a lot: a slew of unpaid bills.
- v. Past tense of slay.
- n. Variant of slough1.
- v. Variant of slue1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- n. US A large amount.
- n. The act, or process of slaying.
- n. A device used for slaying.
- n. A change of position.
- v. transitive, nautical To rotate or turn something about its axis.
- v. transitive To veer a vehicle.
- v. transitive To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time.
- v. intransitive To pivot.
- v. intransitive To skid.
- v. transitive, rail transport to move something (usually a railway line) sideways
- v. transitive, UK, slang To make a public mockery of someone through insult or wit.
- v. Simple past of slay.
GNU Webster's 1913
WordNet 3.0
- v. turn sharply; change direction abruptly
- v. move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled manner
- n. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
Etymologies
- In all senses, a mostly British spelling of slue. (Wiktionary)
- Irish Gaelic sluagh, multitude, from Old Irish slúag. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But that slew is a whole other stew, and quite another story as well …”
“Near faint at the thought, a certain slew of words had the effect of smelling salts and I perked right up.”
“While last year's top pitching prospects are at various stages of rehab from injuries, a new slew is making its presence felt.”
“I called a slew of people, no one around, or no one doing anything, people hanging out, being mellow, waiting for the next night.”
“It was so controversial among his party that Tom DeLay had to break a slew of ethics rules and hold a 15-minute vote open for more than three hours to pass the legislation.”
The Washington Post: Do Republican presidents really refuse compromise?
“In fact, when news broke late Friday night, Reid started calling a slew of African-American leaders.”
“If we suffer ill for doing well, we must not think it strange; from the beginning it was so (Cain slew”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“They completed a section of a slew, which is just south of Highway 132 near the San Joaquin River Bridge.”
“After remarking the candles and lamps, and perfumes and ointments, he approached the slave, and with a blow of his sword slew him; he then carried him on his back, and threw him into a well which he found in the palace, and returning to the kubbeh, clad himself with the slaves clothes, and lay down with the drawn sword by his side.”
Nights 3-9. The Story of the Young King of the Black Islands.
“My father the deacon used to say, the penny siller slew mair souls than the naked sword slew bodies. '”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘slew’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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The Whole Ball of Wax
Feel free to wax poetic.
the whole ball of..., wax poetic, wax, beeswax, ambergris, cedar waxwing, sealing wax, earwax, paraffin, bougie, epicuticular wax, waxing gibbous moon and 192 more...
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multiple meaning words
These words seem very familiar but are awfully-versatile and oftentimes serve senses exceptionally beyond people's presumptions ...
sense, serve, please, say, profile, draw, weather, bear, project, ship, profiler, tune and 140 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Units Of Anything
Descriptions of when more than one thing is present. Usually proceeding the word "of"
Example: "Pile" of Junkunit, pile, horde, group, slew, crowd, bunch, set, heap, nest, gross, glut and 21 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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theastic's Words
cellar, stalemate, wrought, opal, tyrant, squelch, squab, linen, tartan, paisley, scope, siren and 395 more...
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Airborn
Words and phrases from Kenneth Oppel's book, Airborn.
running lights, starboard, bow, gondola, bullhorn, rudder man, gas cell, keel, catwalk, stern, cargo bay, machinist and 152 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 1008 more...
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Slang words of Irish origin according...
Compare the etymologies of these words as given in the OED with the Gaelic backgrounders in this book, How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads (Counterpunch, 2007). Awai...
smack, snazzy, pussy, geek, dork, dude, smudge, snap, slugger, slum, scam, slew and 102 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Reading Random
Got unknown words randomly
delinquency, modicum, dissuade, incendiary, destitute, lachrymose, plight, ruse, empirical, pedantic, demography, giggle and 444 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for slew.
ruzuzu "v. To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time."
--Wiktionary Mar 6, 2012
yarb Citation on whaleman. Sep 9, 2008
whichbe A double contronym(!): meaning both to turn sharply *and* to move smoothly. Also, meaning both a reduction ("kill off") and a plentitude. Aug 28, 2008