Definition of slew
- past tense of slay
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
People Are Reading
slew was our Word of the Day on 07/20/2012. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Other Geology Terms
anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale
Definition of slew
transitive verb
1
:to turn (something, such 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
Examples of slew in a Sentence
He slewed the telescope three degrees south.
Origin and Etymology of slew
Definition of slew
:a large number
- a slew of books
Examples of slew in a Sentence
He has written a slew of books.
we still have a slew of work to do on this project
Did You Know?
Slew appeared as an American colloquialism in the early 19th century. Its origins are unclear, but it is perhaps taken from the Irish "slua," a descendant of Old Irish slúag, meaning "army," "host," or "throng." "Slew" has several homographs (words that are spelled alike but different in meaning, derivation, or pronunciation) in English. These include: "slew" as the past tense of the verb "slay"; "slew" as a spelling variant of "slough," a word which is also commonly pronounced \SLOO\ and which means "swamp," "an inlet on a river," or "a creek in a marsh or tide flat"; and the verb slew, meaning "to turn, veer, or skid."
Origin and Etymology of slew
perhaps from Irish slua army, host, throng, from Old Irish slúag; akin to Lithuanian slaugyti to tend
slew Synonyms
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, yardAntonyms
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, traceRelated 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, zillionNear 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, skimpinessSLEW Defined for English Language Learners
slew
noun
Definition of slew for English Language Learners
-
: a large number of people or things
SLEW Defined for Kids
Learn More about slew
-
See words that rhyme with slew Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for slew Spanish Central: Translation of slew Nglish: Translation of slew for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of slew for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up slew? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
