📖 S — The English dictionary · page 59

slump — Everyday, meaning 1: To slump is to sit or fall down heavily because you are tired, ill or sad.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To slump also means to fall suddenly by a large amount, like prices or sales.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A slump is a time when business, trade or a team does badly (money, sport).↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A slump is also a sudden fall in numbers or in how well someone is doing.↗ Example: After the long race, Mia slumped onto the grass.↗ · Grandad slumped in his armchair and fell asleep.↗ · The boy slumped over his desk, too tired to finish.↗ · Sales of ice cream slump in winter.↗ · The team is in a slump and has lost five games in a row.↗ · During the slump, many shops in town closed.↗ · House prices slumped last year.↗ · Sit up straight and don't slump at the table!↗

slur — Everyday, meaning 1: To slur means to speak words unclearly, so the sounds run together, for example when someone is very tired, ill or drunk.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A slur is an insult or unkind remark that damages someone's reputation, as in «a slur on his good name».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A slur is a nasty, hurtful word used against a group of people, such as because of their race, religion or disability; using slurs is bullying and can be against the law.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (music) A slur is a curved line over notes showing they should be played or sung smoothly together.↗ Example: His speech was slurred because he had just woken from the operation.↗ · Using slurs about someone's race is never OK.↗ · The newspaper's story was a slur on her good name.↗ · Slurred speech can be a sign of a stroke, so call for help quickly.↗ · In music, play the notes under the slur smoothly.↗ · The teacher told the class that slurs are a kind of bullying.↗

slurp — Everyday, meaning 1: To drink or eat noisily by sucking in air with the food or drink.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (noun) A noisy sucking sound or a mouthful drunk this way.↗ Example: Don't slurp your soup!↗ · The dog slurped water from its bowl.↗ · He took a big slurp of milkshake.↗ · We slurped noodles at the restaurant.↗ · Slurping is polite in some countries.↗ · The baby slurped the last of her juice.↗

slurred — Everyday, meaning 1: Slurred speech is speech where the words run into each other and are hard to understand.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (music) Slurred notes are played smoothly joined together, shown by a curved line called a slur.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To have slurred someone can mean to have insulted them unfairly (a slur is an insult).↗ Example: His speech was slurred because he was so sleepy.↗ · Slurred speech can be a sign of a stroke, so call an ambulance.↗ · The drunk man slurred his words.↗ · Play these two notes slurred, without a gap.↗ · She slurred "goodnight" as she fell asleep.↗ · The curved line means the notes are slurred.↗ · After the dentist's injection, my words were slurred for an hour.↗

slurry — Everyday, meaning 1: Slurry is a thick, runny mixture of water and something solid, such as mud, cement or crushed rock.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (farming) On farms, slurry is liquid animal manure (dung and urine mixed with water) kept in tanks or pits and spread on fields as fertiliser.↗ Example: The farmer sprayed slurry on the field, and the whole village smelled it.↗ · Never go near a slurry pit on a farm.↗ · The builders poured a slurry of cement into the hole.↗ · When the river flooded, a brown slurry of mud covered the road.↗ · Our science teacher mixed clay and water to make a slurry.↗ · If you leave the slurry still, the solid bits sink to the bottom.↗ · Farm safety posters warn that slurry gas can kill in seconds.↗

slush — Everyday, meaning 1: Slush is snow that has partly melted and turned into wet, dirty, half-frozen mush on the ground.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A slush or slushie is a drink of flavoured crushed ice.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) Slush can also mean silly, over-sweet, soppy talk or writing about love.↗ Example: The snow turned to grey slush by lunchtime.↗ · The bus splashed slush all over my coat.↗ · Walk carefully — the slush is slippery.↗ · I had a blue raspberry slush at the cinema.↗ · The film was full of romantic slush.↗ · Melting snow becomes slush before it becomes water.↗ · Our boots got soaked in the slush.↗

slushy — Everyday, meaning 1: Covered in or made of slush: half-melted, wet, dirty snow.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Soppy and too sentimental, like a soppy love story.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun, informal) A slushy (or slushie) is a frozen drink of crushed ice and sweet flavouring.↗ Example: The snow turned slushy by lunchtime.↗ · Watch out — the pavement is slushy and slippery.↗ · I had a blue raspberry slushy at the cinema.↗ · My sister loves slushy love songs.↗ · The slushy road splashed our coats.↗ · The film was too slushy for me.↗

slut — Everyday, meaning 1: (old use, now a rude insult) A slut was an untidy, dirty woman; today the word is very rude and hurtful, so do not use it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In old tales, it is a sharp name that a proud or lazy servant girl is called.↗ Example: "What a lazybones! what a slut!"↗ · The proud girl called the servant a slut.↗ · Calling someone that name is rude and hurtful.↗

sly — Everyday, meaning 1: Sly means clever in a sneaky way, good at tricking people and hiding what you really plan.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A sly smile, look or wink shows that someone knows a secret or a joke that others do not.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «On the sly» means secretly, so that others do not notice.↗ Example: The sly fox tricked the crow into dropping its cheese.↗ · Be careful: a sly person may pretend to be your friend to get something.↗ · Tom gave me a sly wink when the teacher wasn't looking.↗ · She had a sly smile, so I knew she had hidden my shoes.↗ · He was eating sweets on the sly during the film.↗ · The sly cat waited quietly until the bird came close.↗ · "No need to search any farther," thought sly Master Fox.↗

slyly — Everyday, meaning 1: In a clever, secret way, often to trick someone.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In a playful, knowing way, as if sharing a secret joke: she smiled slyly.↗ Example: The fox looked slyly at the hens.↗ · She slyly took the last biscuit when no one was looking.↗ · He grinned slyly, knowing the answer.↗ · The weasels slyly crept into Toad Hall.↗ · Grandpa slyly slipped me a coin.↗ · The cat slyly watched the bird from under the bush.↗ · Some one must have slipped it slyly into my pocket for a joke.↗

smack — Everyday, meaning 1: To hit someone or something hard with an open hand.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (noun) A hit with an open hand, or the loud sound of a hit.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (adverb, informal) Exactly or directly: smack in the middle.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (informal) A loud kiss.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: «Smack of» means to suggest something: that smacks of cheating.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: (slang) An illegal drug (heroin); also a small fishing boat (old).↗ Everyday, meaning 7: To smack your lips means to make a noisy sound with your mouth, usually when you are about to eat something tasty.↗ Example: The ball landed smack in the middle of the goal.↗ · She smacked her lips at the smell of pizza.↗ · He hit the wall with a loud smack.↗ · Gran gave me a big smack on the cheek.↗ · Hitting is never OK.↗ · His excuse smacked of a lie.↗ · Iktomi trudged along with his burden, smacking his hungry lips together.↗

small — Everyday, meaning 1: Small means little in size: a small dog.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Small means little in number or amount: a small crowd, a small number.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Small means young: when I was small.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Small means not important: a small mistake.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Smaller means less big than another one; smallest means less big than all the others.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: Small can mean mean or petty: «That was a small thing to do».↗ Everyday, meaning 7: (casual) «Small» is a size in shops and cafés: «a small chips, please».↗ Everyday, meaning 8: (formal) Exams say «of lesser magnitude», «minimal», «negligible» or «the lesser of» for small or smaller.↗ Everyday, meaning 9: (euphemism) «Small» or «petite» is a polite word for short or thin people; «a small problem» may hide a big one.↗ Example: We always subtract the smaller number from the bigger one.↗ · Which number is smaller, 8 or 13?↗ · Put the numbers in order from smallest to biggest.↗ · Germs are too small to see without a microscope.↗ · I made a small mistake in my spelling.↗ · When I was small, I was scared of the dark.↗ · A small chips and a Coke, ta.↗ · We've got a small problem: the car won't start (it's a big problem).↗ · Don't sweat the small stuff, just count 'em.↗ · Oi, shorty, you're too small for the big slide.↗ · Determine the lesser of the two quantities, 17 and 23.↗ · The difference is negligible: 0.01 kilograms.↗ · The dragon grows small at night!↗ · Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small.↗ (Torah DEU.25.13, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small.↗ (Torah DEU.25.14, JPS 1917)↗ · And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.↗ (Torah EXO.18.26, JPS 1917)↗ · Were thy harlotries a small matter, (Prophets EZK.16.20, JPS 1917)↗ · Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer Thee?↗ (Writings JOB.40.4, JPS 1917)↗ · And though thy beginning was small, yet thy end should greatly increase.↗ (Writings JOB.8.7, JPS 1917)↗

smaller — Everyday, meaning 1: Smaller means less big: a mouse is smaller than a cat.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Smaller means less in number or amount: 3 is smaller than 5.↗ Example: Which number is smaller, 45 or 54?↗ · The smaller box holds 6 eggs.↗ · The smaller number is 8 less than the bigger one.↗ · Find the smaller of two numbers whose sum is 20.↗ · My feet are smaller than my dad's.↗ · Cut the apple into smaller pieces for the baby.↗ · The sign < means smaller than.↗ · He is smaller than a picket-pin.↗

smallish — Everyday, meaning 1: Fairly small; a bit small but not very.↗ Example: We live in a smallish house near the park.↗ · She has a smallish dog, about the size of a cat.↗ · It was a smallish crowd, maybe fifty people.↗ · Choose a smallish potato for the baby.↗ · The school is smallish, with only one class per year.↗ · The answer is a smallish number, somewhere under ten.↗

smallness — Everyday, meaning 1: Smallness is the quality of being small in size or height.↗ Example: The smallness of the mouse surprised everyone.↗ · He admired the smallness of the tent.↗ · Her smallness did not matter to her friends.↗

smallpox — Everyday, meaning 1: Smallpox was a very serious, catching disease that caused a high fever and spots that turned into blisters, often leaving deep scars or killing people.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Smallpox is the first human disease ever wiped out completely from the world, thanks to vaccination.↗ Example: Smallpox was once one of the deadliest diseases.↗ · Edward Jenner used cowpox to protect people from smallpox.↗ · Thanks to vaccines, nobody catches smallpox any more.↗ · Smallpox left many survivors with scars.↗ · Smallpox brought from Europe killed many Native Americans.↗ · Smallpox was the first disease to be wiped out by people.↗ · Doctors around the world worked together to end smallpox.↗

smart — Everyday, meaning 1: Smart means clever and quick to learn and understand.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Smart (especially in the UK, Ireland, Australia) means neat, tidy and well-dressed: a smart uniform.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Smart describes a machine that uses a computer and the internet: a smartphone, a smart speaker.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To smart means to sting or hurt sharply: my eyes smarted from the smoke.↗ Example: She is smart and solves puzzles quickly.↗ · You look very smart in your new blazer.↗ · That was a smart idea to bring an umbrella.↗ · Our classroom has a smart board.↗ · The smoke made my eyes smart.↗ · Be smart online and never share your address.↗ · Don't get smart with me, young man!↗ · Dad asked the smart speaker to play music.↗ · Wow, but it's a fine feeling to be so smart!"↗ · He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall smart for it.↗ (Writings PRO.13.20, JPS 1917)↗ · He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; but he that hateth them that strike hands is secure.↗ (Writings PRO.11.15, JPS 1917)↗

smartly — Everyday, meaning 1: Smartly means in a neat, tidy and good-looking way, especially about clothes.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Smartly means quickly and sharply.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Smartly can mean cleverly.↗ Example: Everyone came to the wedding smartly dressed.↗ · The soldier turned smartly and marched away.↗ · She rapped smartly on the door.↗ · Please walk smartly, we are late.↗ · He answered the question smartly.↗ · Toad stepped smartly into the motor car.↗ · The waiter was smartly dressed in black and white.↗ · ‘But you are very smartly dressed for the kind of life you lead,’ continued the old woman.↗

smartphone — Everyday, meaning 1: A smartphone is a mobile phone that is also a small computer: it can go online, take photos, play games, use apps and make calls.↗ Example: Mum checks the bus times on her smartphone.↗ · A smartphone can take photos and videos.↗ · My brother is not allowed a smartphone until he is twelve.↗ · Never share your smartphone passcode with strangers.↗ · The smartphone battery died halfway through the trip.↗ · We used a smartphone app to identify birds.↗ · Too much smartphone time before bed can spoil sleep.↗