slew

SaySLOOUS/slu//sl(j)uː/

Pluralslews

Verbslews, slewing, slewed

14 meanings of slew

Practice

1
nouncountable
A large number or amount of something.
The announcement triggered a slew of complaints from customers.
She published a slew of papers during her time at the lab.
Similarlot, load, heap, abundance, boatload
Oppositehandful, trickle
Note
A borrowing from Irish slua and Scottish Gaelic sluagh, both meaning "crowd," which reach back to a Proto-Celtic word for a troop or army. It has nothing to do with the turning or killing slews. It almost always comes as a slew of plus a plural noun (a slew of documents) and still takes a singular verb: there has been a slew of them.
2
nouncountable
A big crowd, or simply a great many people.
A slew of reporters gathered outside the courthouse.
The festival drew a slew of visitors from across the country.
Similarcrowd, throng, multitude, mass, horde
Oppositehandful
Note
Here the word stays nearest its roots, the Gaelic "crowd" behind the general 'large amount' sense. Throng and multitude are close synonyms, but slew counts people rather than picturing a packed mass. Like its sibling, it comes as a slew of plus a plural noun: reporters, visitors, fans.
3
verb
Past tense of slay.
The hero slew his enemies on the battlefield.
A great warrior slew the beast that terrorized the village.
Note
An irregular past that rhymes with knew and drew, and owes its shape to them. Middle English first had slough, from Old English slōg, before the pattern of knew and drew pulled it into line. It is the simple past only (they slew the dragon). After have or be, the form is slain. Since slay itself is mostly literary or slang, slew tends to turn up in storytelling.
4
verbintransitive
To slide sideways in an uncontrolled skid.
The bike will slew if you brake too hard on gravel.
The trailer slewed across two lanes before the driver regained control.
Similarskid, slide, fishtail, slip, swerve
5
verbtransitive
To cause a vehicle to veer sharply to one side.
The driver slewed the van around the obstacle at the last moment.
Pilots can slew the nose of the aircraft using the rudder.
Similarswerve, swing, turn
6
verbintransitive
To turn or pivot around a fixed point.
Heavy cranes slew slowly to keep their loads steady.
The platform slewed around until it faced the dock.
Similarpivot, swing, turn, rotate, swivel
7
verbtransitive
To change the direction something faces by rotating it about its axis.
The crew slewed the cannon to bear on the approaching ship.
Operators slew the radar dish to scan the horizon.
Similarturn, rotate, swing, swivel, traverse
Note
A sailor's word first: it means swinging a gun, spar or crane boom on its mount until it points where it should. Across all its turning and swinging senses, slew is the mostly British spelling of slue. It takes an object, so you slew the gun, while the intransitive 'pivot' sense describes the thing turning by itself.
8
nouncountable
A change of position, especially one produced by turning.
A sharp slew of the wheel sent the car onto the shoulder.
The radar's slew brought the antenna to a new heading.
Similarswerve, swing, turn, veer, lurch
9
nouncountable or uncountable
The act or process of rotating or turning something about its axis.
The slew of the turret was smooth and nearly silent.
Engineers timed the slew of the antenna precisely.
Similarrotation, turn, traverse, swing
10
nouncountable
A device or mechanism used to rotate something about its axis.
The crane's slew failed, leaving the boom stuck in place.
Mechanics greased the slew so the turret could rotate freely.
Similarswivel

11
verbtransitive
To move something, usually a railway line, sideways to a new position.
Engineers slewed the line to make room for the new station.
Workers will slew the track sideways once the embankment settles.
Similarshift, realign, move
Note
Railway engineers use it for shifting track bodily sideways rather than turning it, unlike the nautical turning sense. A line is slewed onto an old formation, or slewed to clear room for a new platform, as at Treforest in 2022. Track or line is nearly always the object, often in the passive (the track has been slewed), and the rails stay fastened as the whole section moves.
12
nouncountable
A marshy or swampy spot, or an inlet branching off a river.
The hunters set their decoys at the edge of the slew.
A narrow slew connected the marsh to the main river.
Similarslough, swamp, marsh, bayou, inlet
Note
A North American variant of slough, in use since at least 1708, and a cousin of slue, which has the same marshy meaning. Theodore Roosevelt writes in Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (1885) of wet prairie bordering "great reedy slews." This word is unrelated to the turning verbs that share its spelling.
13
verbtransitive
To gradually correct a clock's time by adding extra ticks or skipping some.
Administrators slew the server clock gradually to avoid sudden jumps in time.
The daemon slewed the local clock until it matched the reference.
Similaradjust, correct
14
verbslangBritishtransitive
To publicly mock someone with insults or sharp wit.
The host slewed his guest with a string of brutal one-liners.
Critics will slew the film for its lazy plot.
Similarroast, mock, ridicule, skewer, lampoon
Oppositepraise, flatter
Note
British slang, and a world away from the mechanical verbs: here someone is cut down by a run of insults or jokes in front of others. The public audience is the point, and a private put-down is not quite the same thing. Keep it to casual speech. Outside Britain, listeners may hear only the skidding or turning senses and miss the jab.

slew is a form of slay

slay, verb: To kill a person or animal, especially in a deliberate or violent act. Full entry

Forms: slayslays he/she/itslaying -ing formslew past tenseslain past participle
Spelling: slay → slew: irregular (no -ed)

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of slew apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 4–11, 13–14

In all its senses, this is a mostly British spelling of "slue".

Meaning 12

Attested since at least 1708, this is a North American variant of "slough"; compare "slue" meaning a wet or swampy place.

Meaning 3

This is an ablaut form of "slay", from Middle English "slew", "sleugh", the past tense of "sleen". It replaced an earlier Middle English "slough", "slogh" (from Old English "slōg", past of "slēan" meaning to hit, strike, or slay), under the influence of words like "knew" and "drew".

Meanings 1–2

Borrowed from Irish "slua" and Scottish Gaelic "sluagh" ("crowd"), from Middle Irish "slúag", from Old Irish "slóg", from Proto-Celtic *slougos ("troop, army"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slowgʰos ("entourage").