Lexic.us

Definition of Slacken

1. Verb. Become slow or slower. "Production slowed"

2. Verb. Make less active or fast. "Don't relax your efforts now"

3. Verb. Become looser or slack. "The rope slackened"

4. Verb. Make slack as by lessening tension or firmness.

Definition of Slacken

1. n. A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion.

Definition of Slacken

1. Verb. (intransitive) To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To make slack, less taut, or less intense. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Slacken

1. to make less tight or taut [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Slacken

1. 1. To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather. 2. To be remiss or backward; to be negligent. 3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks. 4. To abate; to become less violent. "Whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames." (Milton) 5. To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens. 6. To languish; to fail; to flag. 7. To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. "That through your death your lineage should slack." (Chaucer) "They will not of that firste purpose slack." (Chaucer) Origin: Slacked, Slackened; Slacking, Slackening] [See Slack. 1. To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage. 2. To neglect; to be remiss in. "Slack not the pressage." (Dryden) 3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime. 4. To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry. "Rancor for to slack." "I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to arms." (Addison) "In this business of growing rich, poor men should slack their pace." (South) "With such delay Well plased, they slack their course." (Milton) 5. To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease. "To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this ill mansion." (Milton) Air-slacked lime, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime. A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion. Alternative forms: slakin. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Slacken

slablike slabs slack slack-jawed slack off slack suit slack tide slack tub slack up slack water

slackard slackards slackcom slackcoms slacked slacken (current term) slacken off slackened slackener slackeners

slackening slackens slacker slackerdom slackerish slackerly slackers slackest slacking slackline

Literary usage of Slacken

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative by Richard Henry Dana (1911)
"... finding the trade beginning to slacken, we hove our anchor up, set our topsails, ran the stars and stripes up to the peak, fired a gun, ..."

2. A Manual of the Law Relating to Shipping and Admiralty: As Determined by the by Robert Desty (1879)
"Obligations to slacken speed.—It is the duty of a steamer to proceed at such a rate ... The obligation to slacken speed is not coincident with the duty of ..."

3. The Iliad of Homer by Homer, John Graham Cordery (1871)
"But all who slacken'd to the pains of war, Them with rebuke he chode and wrathful spake : " Feel ye no shame ? O ye to evil doom'd, ..."

4. The Royal Phraseological English-French, French-English Dictionary by John Charles Tarver (1845)
"To slacken lime, éteindre de la chaux. To slacken sails, diminuer de ... You may quicken or slacken a motion, on peut presser ou ralentir un mouvement. ..."

5. Letters to His Son: On the Fine Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a by Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, Oliver Herbrand Gordon Leigh (1901)
"... steadily and indefatigably; and let any difficulties (if surmountable) rather animate than slacken your endeavors. Perseverance has surprising effects. ..."

6. Draft Outlines of an International Code by David Dudley Field (1876)
"Ships under steam to slacken speed. Rule 16. Every steamer, when approaching another ship, so as to involve risk of collision, must slacken her speed, or, ..."

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