forslack

English

Alternative forms

• foreslack

Etymology

From for- +‎ slack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fə(ɹ)ˈslæk/, /fɔː(ɹ)ˈslæk/

Verb

forslack (third-person singular simple present forslacks, present participle forslacking, simple past and past participle forslacked)

1. (intransitive, rare) To slack up; be or grow slack; pall.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To be slack in; neglect by idleness; relax; render slack; delay; lose or spoil by slackness.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 45:

     But they were virgins all, and love eschewed / That might forslack the charge to them fore-shewd.

   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:

     The official thinking to foreslacke no time, taking counsell with his fellowes, laide hands uppon this Peter, and brought him before the inquisitor.