slouch

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Norse slókr (“a slouching, lazy fellow”), cognate to Swedish sloka (“to wilt, slouch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slaʊt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊtʃ

Noun

slouch (plural slouches)

1. A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance

   He sat with an unenthusiastic slouch.

2. Any depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim.

   The plant hung in a permanent slouch.

3. Someone who is slow to act.
   • 2014, Ian Jack, "Is this the end of Britishness", The Guardian, 16 September 2014:

     In any case, Scotland has been no slouch at national invention. The Greek temple to commemorate James Thomson wasn’t the only monument raised by the 11th Earl of Buchan, who was a friend and neighbour of Walter Scott, and as great a romancer in his obsession with ruins, battlements and fancy dress.

4. (dated) An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow.

Derived terms

• slouch hat

Translations

hanging down of the head, a drooping posture; limp appearance

• Finnish: roikottaminen (hanging down of the head); kyyhöttäminen (drooping posture); velttous (fi), vetelyys (fi) (limp appearance)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

any depression or hanging down

• Finnish: lerpahdus; roikkuminen (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

someone who is slow to act

• Finnish: vetelys (fi), vätys (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: тормоз (ru) m (tormoz)

awkward, heavy, clownish fellow

• Finnish: köntys
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: empoté (fr)
• Russian: увалень (ru) m (uvalenʹ)

Verb

slouch (third-person singular simple present slouches, present participle slouching, simple past and past participle slouched)

1. (intransitive) To hang or droop; to adopt a limp posture

   Do not slouch when playing a flute.

2. (intransitive) To walk in a clumsy, lazy manner.

   I slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.

3. (transitive) To cause to hang down or droop; to depress.
   • 1896, Duncan Campbell Scott, In the Village of Viger (page 107)

     […] then he slouched his head down on the table and pretended to sleep.

   • 2012, Kim Vogel Sawyer, When Hope Blossoms (page 281)

     Disappointment slouched him into the pew.