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Slur

//slɜː// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.

    "It seems that according to their best guess, our mother's ^([sic]) drank too much coffee or alcohol, took drugs, or were under stress during the period of our conception. Underlying all this speculation is, of course, the big slur: we're some kind of unnatural or abnormal product, outside of humanity and their religions."

  2. 2
    a blemish made by dirt wordnet
  3. 3
    An insult or slight, especially one that is muttered incoherently under one's breath.; An extremely offensive and socially unacceptable term targeted at a group of people (such as an ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).

    "In interviews, current and former students of color described an environment rife with racial insensitivity, including casual uses of slurs."

  4. 4
    a disparaging remark wordnet
  5. 5
    A mark of dishonour; a blight or stain.

    "a slur on one's reputation"

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    (music) a curved line spanning notes that are to be played legato wordnet
  2. 7
    An act of running one's words together; poor verbal articulation.

    "And now I'm drinking too much, so I'ma talk with a slur"

  3. 8
    Any instance of separate things gradually blending together, such as heartbeats in some medical disorders.
  4. 9
    A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
  5. 10
    The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie).
Verb
  1. 1
    To insult or slight.

    "And how men slur him, saying all his force / Is melted into mere effeminacy?"

  2. 2
    become vague or indistinct wordnet
  3. 3
    To run together; to articulate poorly.

    "to slur syllables;  He slurs his speech when he is drunk."

  4. 4
    utter indistinctly wordnet
  5. 5
    To play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly.

    "Notes , the stems of which are joined together by cross lines, as in united quavers , semiquavers , & c . or notes over the heads of which a curve is drawn, to signify that they are to be slurred"

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    speak disparagingly of; e.g., make a racial slur wordnet
  2. 7
    To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.

    "they do not only impudently slur the gospel, according to the history and the letter, in making it no better than a romantical legend[…]"

  3. 8
    play smoothly or legato wordnet
  4. 9
    To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.

    "With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes."

  5. 10
    To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.

    "to slur men of what they fought for"

  6. 11
    To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle. dated

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Also related to dialectal Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels); compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”). * (an extremely offensive term): Influenced by various compounds of sense 1 such as racial slur, ethnic slur, etc.

Etymology 2

From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Also related to dialectal Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels); compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”). * (an extremely offensive term): Influenced by various compounds of sense 1 such as racial slur, ethnic slur, etc.

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