# slot

Pronunciation: say "SLOT" US /slɑt/, UK /slɒt/

## Noun

1. A narrow opening, hole, or groove, especially one made to receive a part that fits or slides into it.
   - Simple: A long, narrow hole or cut that something can be put or slid into.
   - _She slid the key card into the slot beside the door._
   - _The bracket has two slots for adjusting the shelf height._
2. A position or period of time allotted to someone or something within a schedule or running order, such as a broadcast time or an aircraft's takeoff or landing time.
   - Simple: A time given to someone or something in a schedule, like a TV show's time or a plane's takeoff time.
   - _Her show was moved to a later evening slot._
   - _There were no free slots left on the appointment calendar._
3. Short form of slot machine: a coin- or card-operated gambling machine that pays out when its spinning symbols line up. *(colloquial)* — Clipping of slot machine (“a game of chance played for money using a coin slot”).
   - Simple: Short for slot machine: a gambling machine that may pay out money when spinning symbols stop in a winning pattern.
   - _He hit the jackpot on a dollar slot late that night._
   - _The new resort installed hundreds of slots on its gaming floor._
6. In computing, a location in memory, on disk, or the like, where objects of a given type can be held.
   - Simple: A space in a computer's memory or storage for holding one kind of thing.
   - _The allocator placed the object in the first free slot._
   - _A hash table uses each key to pick a slot in the array, which makes lookups very fast._
8. In American football, the area between the outermost offensive lineman and the wide receiver on that side.
   - Simple: In football, the open area between the end of the line and the outside receiver.
   - _The receiver shifted into the slot before the snap._
   - _Defenses struggled to cover both slots at once._
10. In hockey, the rectangular area directly in front of the net, extending out toward the blue line.
   - Simple: In hockey, the space right in front of the goal where players try to score.
   - _He buried the rebound from the slot._
   - _The team crashed the slot looking for loose pucks._
11. Vulgar slang for the vagina. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude slang word for the vagina.
   - _He reduced every woman in the room to a slot with his vile comments._
   - _The drunk men at the bar kept making crude jokes about women's slots until the bartender told them to leave._
12. In surfing, the hollow tube or barrel formed inside a breaking wave. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The hollow, curving inside of a breaking wave that a surfer can ride through.
   - _She pulled into the slot just as the lip threw over her._
   - _Only the best surfers can hold their line through the slot._
14. In a formation flying display, the fourth position, flown behind the leader and the two wingmen.
   - Simple: The fourth flying position in an air show, behind the leader and two wing aircraft.
   - _In the diamond formation, the slot pilot flies directly behind the leader._
   - _Smoke from the lead jet often washes over whoever flies the slot._

## Verb

4. To assign someone or something to a particular place in a schedule or sequence.
   - Simple: To give someone or something a set place in a schedule.
   - _The editor slotted the article into next month's issue._
   - _Organizers slot each band into a time on the festival lineup._
5. To put or fit something into a slot or narrow opening, or into the place where it belongs.
   - Simple: To put something into a narrow opening or into the space where it fits.
   - _He slotted the missing piece into the puzzle._
   - _Volunteers slot the returned files back into the cabinet._
7. To make a narrow groove, aperture, or opening, especially by cutting or machining.
   - Simple: To cut a narrow groove or opening into something.
   - _The machinist slotted the bracket to accept the locking tab._
   - _Workers slot each plate so the shelves lock together._
9. To kick the ball between the goalposts for a goal, and so to score. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To kick the ball between the posts and score a goal.
   - _The fullback slotted the penalty from forty meters out._
   - _With seconds left, he managed to slot it through the big sticks._
13. To kill a person, especially by shooting. *(dialectal, British, Rhodesia)*
   - Simple: To kill someone.
   - _In the film, a hired gunman is sent to slot a witness before she can testify._
   - _Word spread that the rival crew planned to slot him on sight._

## Noun

15. A fortified place; a fort or castle. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A fort or castle.

## Verb

16. To fasten a door or window shut with a bar, bolt, or lock. *(obsolete, Northern England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: To lock or bolt a door or window shut.
17. To shut something with violence; to slam it. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: To shut something hard and loudly, with a bang.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A fish that falls within the legal size limits and so may be caught and kept.
- (noun) The inner position at a semicircular copy desk, occupied by the editor who supervises the copy editors.
- (noun) A bar of wood or bolt of metal, often serving as a crosspiece, especially one used to fasten a door, gate, or window shut.
- (noun) The track of an animal, especially a deer; the spoor it leaves behind.
- (noun) A crevasse or other deep, narrow opening in a glacier or snowfield.
- (verb) To fall into a crevasse, or to cause a person or thing to fall into one.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–14** — Old Norse slóð ("track") is the likely source of Old French esclot, which became Middle English slot. The gambling-machine meaning is short for slot machine, and the scheduling sense is a metaphor that treats a span of time as the part of a page or device that stands for it.
**Meanings 15–17** — This sense comes from Middle English slot, from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch slot, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *slot and Proto-Germanic *slutą, related to the verb *sleutaną ("to lock"). It is cognate with Dutch slot and German Schloss ("door-bolt"), and the verb probably comes from Middle Dutch sluten ("to close, to lock").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/slot (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).