slang
Pronunciation
  • enPR: slăng, IPA: /slæŋ/
  • (America, pre-/ŋ/ tensing) enPR: slăng, IPA: /sleɪŋ/
1756, meaning "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves", unk en. Possibly derived from a gmq - source, related to Norwegian Nynorsk slengenamn, slengja kjeften ("to abuse verbally"), related to Icelandic slengja, Norse, Old slyngva. Noun

slang

  1. Language outside of conventional usage and in the informal register.
  2. Language that is unique to a particular profession or subject; jargon.
  3. The specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to make what is said unintelligible to those not members of the group; cant.
    • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life, volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829 ↗, book I (Miss Brooke), page 172 ↗:
      "Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is getting to be shopkeepers' slang. / "Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity. / "Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class." / "There is correct English: that is not slang." / "I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."
  4. (countable) A particular variety of slang; the slang used by a particular group.
  5. (countable) An item of slang; a slang word or expression.
Synonyms Translations Verb

slang (slangs, present participle slanging; past and past participle slanged)

  1. (transitive, dated) To vocally abuse, or shout at.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Miss Youghal's Sais”, Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society 2007, p. 26,
      Also, he had to keep his temper when he was slanged in the theatre porch by a policeman.
Verb
  1. (archaic) simple past tense of sling
Noun

slang (plural slangs)

  1. (UK, dialect) Any long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.
Noun

slang (plural slangs)

  1. (UK, obsolete) A fetter worn on the leg by a convict.
  2. (UK, obsolete, slang) A counterfeit weight or measure.
  3. (UK, obsolete, slang) A travelling show, or one of its performances.
  4. (UK, obsolete, slang) A hawker's license.
  5. (UK, obsolete, slang) A watchchain.
Verb

slang (slangs, present participle slanging; past and past participle slanged)

  1. (transitive, AAVE, MLE) To sell (especially illegal drugs).



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