slows

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of slow.

   The current slows where the river widens into a shallow lake.

   Heavy traffic slows the morning commute considerably.

   Note

   One form serves both halves of the verb. With an object it means to reduce something's speed (heavy traffic slows the commute); without one it means to lose speed itself (the current slows where the river widens). It pairs with he, she, it or a singular noun. The same spelling also belongs to a noun, the dated name for milk sickness, so the surrounding grammar tells you which you are reading.

2. 2
   noundateduncountable

   A poisoning illness, now rare, contracted by consuming milk or meat from cattle that have grazed on white snakeroot.

   Note

   An old medical name, now dated, for the illness doctors today call milk sickness. The poison behind it is tremetol, which passes from white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) into the milk and flesh of grazing cattle. Sufferers trembled, vomited and fell into prostration. Despite the final -s it is a mass noun, not a plural. In modern writing use milk sickness, and keep this word for historical or quoted contexts.

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