slake
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /sleɪk/
Verb

slake (slakes, present participle slaking; past and past participle slaked)

  1. (transitive) To satisfy (thirst, or other desires). [from 14thc.]
    Synonyms: quench, extinguish
    • slake the heavenly fire
    • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:
      It could not slake mine ire nor ease my heart.
  2. (transitive) To cool (something) with water or another liquid. [from 14thc.]
    • 1961, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, p.14:
      Notes for landscape tones. Long sequences of tempera. Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick-dust - sweet smelling brick dust and the odour of hot pavements slaked with water.
  3. (intransitive) To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
    The lime slakes.
  4. (transitive) To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
    to slake lime
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) Of a person: to become less energetic, to slacken in one's efforts. [11th-17thc.]
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To slacken; to become relaxed or loose. [11th-16thc.]
    • When the body's strongest sinews slake.
  7. (intransitive, obsolete) To become less intense; to weaken, decrease in force. [14th-19thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:20.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter Primum], in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
      wherfor the quene waxed wroth with sir Launcelot / and vpon a day she called sir launcelot vnto her chamber and saide thus / Sir launcelot I see and fele dayly that thy loue begynneth to slake / for thou hast no Ioye to be in my presence / but euer thou arte oute of thys Courte
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To go out; to become extinct.
    • His flame did slake.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

slake (slakes, present participle slaking; past and past participle slaked)

  1. (transitive, Scotland) To besmear.
Noun

slake (plural slakes)

  1. (Scotland) A sloppy mess.



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
Offline English dictionary