Slang

Pronunciation

• enPR: slăng, IPA: /slæŋ/
• (also) US enPR: slāng, IPA: /sleɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -æŋ

1756, Unknown.

Full definition of slang

Noun

1. Language outside of conventional usage.
2. Language that is unique to a particular profession or subject; jargon.
3. The specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to make what is said unintelligible to those not members of the group; cant.
• Eliot Middlemarch|11"Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is getting to be shopkeepers' slang.""Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity."Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class.""There is correct English: that is not slang.""I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."

Synonyms

• (jargon) vernacular, jargon, lingo, dialect, cant

Verb

1. (transitive, dated) To vocally abuse, or shout at.
• 1888, Also, he had to keep his temper when he was slanged in the theatre porch by a policeman — Rudyard Kipling, ‘Miss Youghal's Sais’, Plain Tales from the Hills (Folio Society 2007, p. 26)

Verb

1. (archaic)

   slang

   (simple past of sling)
• 1836, Edward Bagnall, Saul and DavidBefore he slang the all-deciding stone...

Noun

1. (UK, dialect) Any long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.

Compare sling.

Noun

1. (UK, obsolete) A fetter worn on the leg by a convict.

Anagrams

• glans
• langs