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Webster 1913 Edition


Slake

Slake

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Slaked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Slaking
.]
[OE.
slaken
to render slack, to slake, AS.
sleacian
, fr.
sleac
slack. See
Slack
,
Verb.
&
Adj.
]
1.
To allay; to quench; to extinguish;
as, to
slake
thirst
.
“And slake the heavenly fire.”
Spenser.
It could not
slake
mine ire nor ease my heart.
Shakespeare
2.
To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination shall take place; to slack;
as, to
slake
lime
.

Slake

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To go out; to become extinct.
“His flame did slake.”
Sir T. Browne.
2.
To abate; to become less decided.
[R.]
Shak.
3.
To slacken; to become relaxed.
“When the body’s strongest sinews slake.”
[R.]
Sir J. Davies.
4.
To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place;
as, the lime
slakes
.
Slake trough
,
a trough containing water in which a blacksmith cools a forging or tool.

Webster 1828 Edition


Slake

SLAKE

,
Verb.
T.
To quench; to extinguish; as, to slake thirst. And slake the heav'nly fire.

SLAKE

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To go out; to become extinct.
2.
To grow less tense. [a mistake for slack.]

Definition 2024


slake

slake

English

Verb

slake (third-person singular simple present slakes, present participle slaking, simple past and past participle slaked)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) Of a person: to become less energetic, to slacken in one's efforts. [11th-17thc.]
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To slacken; to become relaxed or loose. [11th-16thc.]
    • (Can we date this quote?) Sir John Davies
      When the body's strongest sinews slake.
  3. (intransitive, obsolete) To become less intense; to weaken, decrease in force. [14th-19thc.]
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter Primum, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
      wherfor the quene waxed wroth with sir Launcelot / and vpon a day she called sir launcelot vnto her chamber and saide thus / Sir launcelot I see and fele dayly that thy loue begynneth to slake / for thou hast no Ioye to be in my presence / but euer thou arte oute of thys Courte
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To go out; to become extinct.
  5. (transitive) To satisfy (thirst, or other desires); to quench; to extinguish. [from 14thc.]
    • 1991, David Koulack, To catch a dream: explorations of dreaming‎, page 98:
      In that study, some of the subjects had dreams in which they were slaking their thirst, very much like the dreams of convenience Freud described.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
      It could not slake mine ire nor ease my heart.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
      slake the heavenly fire
  6. (transitive) To cool (something) with water or another liquid. [from 14thc.]
    • 1961, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, p.14:
      Notes for landscape tones. Long sequences of tempera. Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick-dust - sweet smelling brick dust and the odour of hot pavements slaked with water.
  7. (intransitive) To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
    The lime slakes.
  8. (transitive) To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
    to slake lime

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