slacken
part of speech
verb (slacken, slackens, slackened, slackening)
meaning for a pupil
1) To make something less tight, or to become less tight: slacken a rope. tree →
2) To become slower, weaker or less busy: the pace slackened, the rain slackened. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: In Second Kings a woman from Shunem tells her servant to ride fast to find the prophet Elisha. It shows how urgent her need was. In the primary lessons: An action word in boating, sailing and climbing (slacken the rope, slacken the sail) and in describing change (the wind slackened, the traffic slackened). In The Wind in the Willows, when Rat stops rowing, the boat's pace slackens and they drift. Safety: never slacken a safety rope someone is relying on.
examples
- Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant: 'Drive, and go forward; slacken me not the riding, except I bid thee.' (Prophets 2KI.4.24, JPS 1917) tree →
- Slacken the rope a little so the knot comes undone. tree →
- The rain slackened and we went out to play. tree →
- Near the finish line, the runner did not slacken his pace. tree →
- The sail slackened when the wind dropped. tree →
- Traffic slackens after rush hour. tree →
- Don't slacken your effort before the test. tree →
- At length the horse slackened its pace. ‘Look and see who is behind you,’ it said; and the young man looked. tree →
note
Regular verb: slackened, slackening. From «slack» (loose). Opposite: tighten, quicken. «Slack off» is informal for working less hard.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «slacken» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.