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Slew

//sl(j)uː// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act, or process of slewing.
  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of slough (“a marshy or swampy place”) (reflecting the alternative pronunciation). alt-of, alternative

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

  3. 3
    A large amount.

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

  4. 4
    (often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent wordnet
  5. 5
    A device used for slewing.
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  1. 6
    A crowd or large number of people.
  2. 7
    A change of position.
Verb
  1. 1
    To rotate or turn something about its axis. transitive

    "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. 2
    simple past of slay form-of, past
  3. 3
    move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled manner wordnet
  4. 4
    To veer a vehicle. transitive

    "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."

  5. 5
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly wordnet
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  1. 6
    To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time. transitive
  2. 7
    To pivot. intransitive
  3. 8
    To skid. intransitive
  4. 9
    To move something (usually a railway line) sideways. transitive

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

  5. 10
    To make a public mockery of someone through insult or wit. British, slang, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

In all senses, a mostly British spelling of slue.

Etymology 2

In all senses, a mostly British spelling of slue.

Etymology 3

Attested since at least 1708, a North American variant of slough.

Etymology 4

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.

Etymology 5

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

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