slue

English

Alternative forms

• (mostly British) slew

Etymology

Unknown. Attested from the late 18th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sluː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: slew, slough

Verb

slue (third-person singular simple present slues, present participle sluing or slueing, simple past and past participle slued)

1. (transitive, nautical) To rotate something on an axis.
   • 1841, B.J. Totten, Naval Text-Book‎^[1], page 10:

     raise the boom […] then slue it by a slue-rope on its heel, until the square hole in the cap is fair with the tenon

2. (transitive) To turn something sharply.
   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations‎^[2]:

     […] then he incidentally spat and said something to the other convict, and they laughed, and slued themselves round with a clink of their coupling manacle,

3. (intransitive) To rotate on an axis; to pivot.
4. (intransitive) To slide off course; to skid.

Translations

to rotate something on an axis

• Bulgarian: въртя (bg) (vǎrtja)

to turn something sharply

• Bulgarian: извъртам (bg) (izvǎrtam)

to pivot

• Bulgarian: въртя се около ос (vǎrtja se okolo os)

to skid

Noun

slue (plural slues)

1. The act of sluing or the place to which something has slued.
2. A slough; a run or wet place.

Translations

act of sluing

• Bulgarian: въртене около ос (vǎrtene okolo os)

Derived terms

• slue-foot
• slue-footed

 

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “slew”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• LEUs, Lues, Luse, lues