slacken
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
- From Old English slǣcan
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
slacken (third-person singular simple present slackens, present participle slackening, simple past and past participle slackened)
- (intransitive) To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.
- The pace slackened.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- During this interlude, Warwick, though he had slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro intonation:...
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
- He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time.
- (transitive) To make slack, less taut, or less intense.
- 1986, Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher
- Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat...
- 1986, Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher
- To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.
- to slack lime
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
(intransitive) to gradually decrease in intensity
(transitive) to gradually decrease in intensity
