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slew

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Pronunciation

slew1 swampy place

Etymology

The swampy place is a North American spelling of slough, a muddy hollow or bog,[2][3][4][5] and the OED groups it with the spellings of Middle English slō.[4] The Middle English noun is inherited from Old English slōh (“soft, muddy ground”),[3][6][4] a word of uncertain origin;[3][4] Etymonline compares Middle Low German sloch (“muddy place”) and Middle High German sluoche (“ditch”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A marshy or reedy pool or backwater: 1708, in Samuel Sewall's diary.[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart calls the spelling American English,[2] and the OED labels the sense as used in the United States and Canada;[4] the Dictionary of Canadian English lists slew with a reference to slough.[7] D. H. Lawrence used it more generally in The Rainbow (1915) for an expanse of water, a rare use.[4][5] In coal mining it was also a technical term, recorded in a glossary of 1883.[4]

Timeline

  • 1708 – a marshy pool, pond or backwater, in North America.[4][2][3]
  • 1883 – a term in coal mining.[4]
  • 1915 – an expanse or mass of water.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (North America) A marshy or reedy pool, pond or backwater; a slough.[4][5][2]
  2. (rare) An expanse or mass of water.[4][5]

slew2 turn, swing

Etymology

The verb meaning to turn or swing round is of unknown origin.[4][5][3][8][9][10][11] It was first recorded as a sailors' word, and in the spelling slue, which is still often used;[4][12][8] Barnhart dates the spelling slew to 1834.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn a thing round on its own axis, or without moving it from its place, in nautical and military use: 1769, in William Falconer's Universal Dictionary of the Marine.[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline sees the original sea sense as turning something, such as a mast or spar, on its axis without shifting it.[3][9] The verb was in general use by about 1825, and it was also intransitive, to swing round, from 1823; more recently it is used of a motor vehicle that skids out of control.[4] In Australia and New Zealand it meant to beat or outwit someone (from 1813), and to get slewed was to lose one's way in the bush.[4][13] The participle slewed, drunk, is old nautical slang, recorded from 1801 in Etymonline,[3] from the 19th century in Hoad,[8] and the verb was used for "to make drunk" from 1888.[4] The noun, a turn or twist, or the position into which a thing has been turned, dates from about 1860.[4][9][5] Wright's dialect dictionary found the verb in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland, England and Australia for to twist, swerve or swing round.[14] From 1958 it was used of a control mechanism or electronic device, as in slew rate.[4][5] Slew-foot, a clumsy person who walks with the feet turned out, is from 1896.[3]

Timeline

  • 1769 – to turn a spar or the like on its axis, a nautical and military word.[4][2]
  • 1801 – slewed, drunk, in nautical slang.[3]
  • 1813 – in Australia and New Zealand, to beat or outwit.[4]
  • 1823 – intransitive, to turn about, swing round.[4]
  • c. 1825 – in general use, to turn something round.[4]
  • 1834 – the spelling slew, in Michael Scott's Cruise of the Midge.[2]
  • c. 1860 – noun, a turn or twist.[4][9]
  • 1896 – slew-foot, a clumsy person.[3]
  • 1958 – of a control mechanism or electronic device.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To turn something round on its own axis or without moving it from its place, originally a ship's mast or spar.[9][4][11]
  2. To turn, twist or swing round, often awkwardly: She slewed round on the bench to look at him.[11][9][4]
  3. Of a vehicle, to skid and slide sideways out of control.[4]
  4. (Australia and New Zealand, informal) To beat or outwit.[4][13]

Noun

  1. The act of slewing; a turn or twist, or the position into which a thing has been turned.[4][5][11][9]

Word family

  • slew rate

slew3 large number

Etymology

The large number is borrowed from Irish sluagh (“crowd, multitude, host”),[4][2][6][9][5][15][3] now spelled slua;[4][5] Wiktionary also names Scottish Gaelic sluagh.[1] The Irish word is from Old Irish slúag,[6] from Proto-Celtic *slougos (“troop, army”),[1] which Barnhart takes back to Proto-Indo-European *slougos.[2] The same Gaelic word is the first element of slogan, originally a battle cry.[3][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

A very large number or amount: 1839, in Daniel P. Thompson's The Green Mountain Boys;[4][3][9] Barnhart dates the same quotation to 1840.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as American English,[2][3][17] and the Shorter Oxford still labels it colloquial and chiefly North American.[5] It is also used in the plural ("slews of work"),[4][9] and is sometimes spelled slue.[9][6]

Timeline

  • 1839 – a large number or amount, in American English.[4][9][3] Barnhart dates it to 1840.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (informal) A large number or amount; a lot: a slew of new complaints.[6][9][5][4]

Usage notes

Slew is also the past tense of slay.[18][11][19] In basket-making a slew is a filling of two or more rods worked together (from 1907), of uncertain origin, perhaps the noun of the verb "to turn".[4][5][9] In Yorkshire and Somerset dialect slew was also a slow-worm.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Dollinger, Stefan, ed., A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 3rd ed. (online), Vancouver: University of British Columbia, dchp.arts.ubc.ca
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  16. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  17. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  19. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul