slew

¹slew

Definition of SLEW

past of slay

²slew

Definition of SLEW

variant of ¹slough 1b

Other Geology Terms

anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale

³slew

verb \ˈslü\

Definition of SLEW

transitive verb

1

: to turn (as a telescope or a ship's spar) about a fixed point that is usually the axis

2

: to cause to skid : veer <slew a car around a turn>

intransitive verb

1

: to turn, twist, or swing about : pivot

2

: skid

Variants of SLEW

slew also slue \ˈslü\

Examples of SLEW

1. He slewed the telescope three degrees south.

Origin of SLEW

origin unknown

First Known Use: circa 1769

Rhymes with SLEW

blue, boo, brew, chew, clew, clue, coo, coup, crew, cue, dew, do, doux, due, ewe, few, flu, flue, fou, glue, gnu, goo, hew, hue, Jew, Koo, lieu, loo, mew, moo, moue, mu, new, nu, ooh, pew, phew, pooh, q, queue, roux, rue, screw, shoe, shoo, shrew, Sioux, skew, slough, slue, smew, sou, sous, spew, sprue, stew, strew, sue, Sue, thew, through, to, too, true, two, u, view, whew, who, woo, xu, yew, you, zoo

⁴slew

noun

Definition of SLEW

: a large number <a slew of books>

Examples of SLEW

1. He has written a slew of books.
2. <we still have a slew of work to do on this project>

Origin of SLEW

perhaps from Irish slua army, host, throng, from Old Irish slúag; akin to Lithuanian slaugyti to tend

First Known Use: 1839

Related to SLEW

Synonyms

abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, lot, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, yard

Antonyms

ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace

Related Words

epidemic, plague, rash; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; deluge, flood, overflow; army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng; gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion

Near Antonyms

atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit; smatter, smattering; dash, drop, morsel, shot; piece, portion, section; absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want; deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness