slams

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of slam.

   The wind slams the shutters against the wall during every storm.

   Whenever the team loses, the coach slams his clipboard to the ground.

   Note

   The -s form works on both sides of an ergative verb: she slams the door, and the door slams, describing the same event either way. When it means putting something down hard, it usually takes a preposition such as down, against or into. In slang, a team that slams its rival has beaten it, and a blow that slams someone can leave them out of action.

   The door slams behind her as she leaves.

   She slams the door behind her as she leaves.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of slam.

   The repeated slams of the garage door echoed down the quiet street.

   Tennis fans often debate which of the four slams is hardest to win.

   Note

   Any countable meaning of slam can take this plural: blows, the bangs of a door, slam dunks, the Grand Slam tournaments and, in American colloquial speech, insults. The one exception is the British dialect word for the yellow iron silicate left as waste in alum works. That slam is uncountable, so slams never means it. In tennis talk, the four slams are the Grand Slam events.

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