slab

[ slab ]

/ slæb /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR slab ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a broad, flat, somewhat thick piece of stone, wood, or other solid material.

a thick slice of anything: a slab of bread.

a semifinished piece of iron or steel so rolled that its breadth is at least twice its thickness.

a rough outside piece cut from a log, as when sawing one into boards.

Baseball Slang. rubber¹(def 14).

Building Trades. a section of concrete pavement or a concrete floor placed directly on the ground or on a base of gravel.

verb (used with object), slabbed, slab·bing.

to make into a slab or slabs.

to cover or lay with slabs.

to cut the slabs or outside pieces from (a log).

to put on in slabs; cover thickly.

Origin of slab

1250–1300; Middle English sclabbe, slabbe < ?

Words nearby slab

skywrite, skywriting, skíros, sl, sla, slab, slab dashing, slab plastering, slab top, slab track, slab-sided

Definition for slab (2 of 2)

slab ²

[ slab ]

/ slæb /

adjective Scot. and North England.

thick; viscous.

Origin of slab

1595–1605; apparently < Scandinavian; compare Swedish, Norwegian slabb mire, Icelandic slabba to wade in mud

Example sentences from the Web for slab

In Ferguson, Missouri, the bullet-ridden body of Michael Brown lies on a slab somewhere, and his parents await justice, and mourn.

How We Got to Ferguson—a Reading List |David Masciotra |August 23, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
A group of Bolivian miners must have received the shock of their lives when they uncovered a slab with 5,055 gigantic footprints.

294 Dinosaurs Once Walked on This Wall in Bolivia |Nina Strochlic |October 24, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
After the rain ended, we took a bottle of wine to a slab of granite rock just beyond camp for a sundowner.

Walking With Wildebeests: Exploring the Serengeti on Foot |Joanna Eede |July 9, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
The school—a slab of concrete, surrounded by a perimeter of depilated classrooms—resembles a prison.

Egypt, As Protests Rage, School Begins |Lauren Bohn |September 15, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

This glamorous: The party took place in a suite of conference rooms in a 1970s-vintage slab concrete hotel in Birmingham.

How To Fix America’s Dull, Corrupt Political Conventions |David Frum |August 18, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
But grander he is as he lies in the majesty of death behind that slab.

Valeria |William Henry Withrow
"We took others that did not belong to the slab," said the Doctor.

Adventures in Many Lands |Various
Scott, with all his glory and his monuments in other places, has not even a slab bearing his name laid upon his breast.

Homes and haunts of the most eminent British poets, Vol. II (of 2) |William Howitt
It was as if a slab of rock fitted roughly into grooves had first been lifted, and had then fallen heavily on to the crowbar.

It Happened in Egypt |C. N. Williamson
They swung as easily as if hung upon hinges, and when closed a slab of stone came down to bar them.

Pharaoh's Broker |Ellsworth Douglass

British Dictionary definitions for slab

slab

/ (slæb) /

noun

a broad flat thick piece of wood, stone, or other material

a thick slice of cake, etc

any of the outside parts of a log that are sawn off while the log is being made into planks

mountaineering a flat sheet of rock lying at an angle of between 30° and 60° from the horizontal

a printer's ink table

(modifier) Australian and NZ made or constructed of coarse wooden planks a slab hut

informal, mainly British an operating or mortuary table

mainly British and Australian informal a package containing 24 cans of beer

verb slabs, slabbing or slabbed (tr)

to cut or make into a slab or slabs

to cover or lay with slabs

to saw slabs from (a log)

Word Origin for slab

C13: of unknown origin

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

slab

noun

verb (used with object), slabbed, slab·bing.

Origin of slab

Words nearby slab

Definition for slab (2 of 2)

adjective Scot. and North England.

Origin of slab

Example sentences from the Web for slab

British Dictionary definitions for slab

noun

verb slabs, slabbing or slabbed (tr)

Word Origin for slab

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

slab

noun

verb (used with object), slabbed, slab·bing.

Origin of slab

Words nearby slab

Definition for slab (2 of 2)

adjective Scot. and North England.

Origin of slab

Words related to slab

Example sentences from the Web for slab

British Dictionary definitions for slab

noun

verb slabs, slabbing or slabbed (tr)

Word Origin for slab