slew

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl(j)uː/
• (Wales, Northern England, some New England, Southern American, and Canadian) IPA^(key): /slɪu̯/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Etymology 1

In all senses, a mostly British spelling of slue.

Noun

slew (plural slews)

1. The act, or process of slewing.
2. A device used for slewing.
3. A change of position.

Derived terms

• slew rate

Translations

change of position

• Dutch: ommekeer (nl)

Verb

slew (third-person singular simple present slews, present participle slewing, simple past and past participle slewed)

1. (transitive, nautical) To rotate or turn something about its axis.
   • 2011, James D. Hornfischer, “28: Into the Light”, in Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal‎^[1], New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, retrieved 21 November 2022, pages 273–274:

     His gunnery officer, Lieutenant Commander William R. D. Nickelson, Jr., preferred to respond with other hardware. At once he shouted into his headset mike: "Fuck that! Open fire!" His assistant, Lloyd Mustin, was recording accurate ranges from the narrowcasting fire-control radar and didn't need help from other wavelengths. "Action port. Illuminating ship is target," he instructed his gun captains. Mustin, controlling the after trio of five-inch mounts, and Nickelson slewed their directors onto the lights and opened fire immediately.

2. (transitive) To veer a vehicle.
   • 2020 July 15, Drachinifel, 1:04:58 from the start, in The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 1 (Beatty vs Hipper)‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 October 2022:

     As the 5th Battle Squadron comes into the range of the High Seas Fleet, Admiral Evan-Thomas, who, so far, has dutifully followed Beatty's orders (or lack of them), has finally had just about enough. He can see the danger, plain as day, as the High Seas Fleet's leading elements open up a barrage with every gun they possess. He therefore issues his own squadron orders to expect to have to make sudden course changes and to follow his lead, before ordering the wheel hard over and slewing Barham around. Valiant and Warspite move to follow, replicating the "turn in succession" order, whilst the trailing HMS Malaya sees the oncoming danger and prepares to turn as soon as it possibly can without crashing into Warspite.

3. (transitive) To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time.
4. (intransitive) To pivot.
5. (intransitive) To skid.
6. (transitive, rail transport) To move something (usually a railway line) sideways.

   The single line was slewed onto the disused up formation to make way for the future redoubling.

   • 2022 November 16, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Wales”, in RAIL, number 970, page 27:

     Treforest: The track has been slewed to create space for the new island station platform at Treforest Estate, on the Cardiff-Merthyr line.

7. (transitive, British, slang) To make a public mockery of someone through insult or wit.

Translations

to rotate or turn something about its axis

• Dutch: omkeren (nl), draaien (nl)
• Portuguese: girar (pt), fazer girar, virar (pt), fazer virar
• Slovak: stočiť

to veer a vehicle

• Dutch: zwenken (nl)

To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time

• Dutch: instellen (nl), regelen (nl)

to pivot

• Dutch: omwentelen (nl), draaien (nl)

to skid

• Dutch: schuiven (nl), slippen (nl)

to move something (usually a railway line) sideways

• Dutch: verschuiven (nl)

to make a public mockery of someone through insult or wit

• Dutch: iemand te kakken zetten

Etymology 2

Attested since at least 1708, a North American variant of slough; compare slue (“wet or swampy place”).

Noun

slew (plural slews)

1. A wet or swampy place; a river inlet.
   • 1885, Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman:

     The prairie round about is wet, at times almost marshy, especially at the borders of the great reedy slews.

Etymology 3

Ablaut of slay, from Middle English slew, sleugh, past of Middle English sleen. Replaced earlier Middle English slough, slogh, from Old English slōg (past of Old English slēan (“to hit, strike, slay”)), due to the influence of knew, drew, etc. More at slay.

Verb

slew

1. simple past of slay

See also

• slain

References

• slay, v.¹, in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Irish slua (“crowd”) and Scottish Gaelic sluagh (“crowd”), from Old Irish slúag, slóg, from Proto-Celtic *slougos (“troop, army”), from Proto-Indo-European *slowgʰos, *slowgos (“entourage”).

Noun

slew (plural slews)

1. A large amount.

   She has a slew of papers and notebooks strewn all over her desk.

   • 2021 February 24, Philip Haigh, “A shift from cars: Scotland's railways are friends of electric!”, in RAIL, number 915, page 30:

     There has been a slew of documents about Scottish transport planning in recent weeks.

2. A crowd or large number of people.

Translations

a large amount

• Catalan: munt (ca) m, tou (ca) m
• Dutch: een groot aantal
• German: Menge (de) f, Reihe (de) f, ganze Reihe f
• Portuguese: amontoado (pt) m, montão (pt)
• Russian: ма́сса (ru) f (mássa)
• Spanish: montón (es) m
• Swedish: massa (sv) c, mängd (sv) c
• Vietnamese: đống (vi)

See also

• onslaught

References

• “slew”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• ESWL, lews, wels