slag

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Waste material from a mine.
2. (countable, uncountable) Scum that forms on the surface of molten metal.
3. (countable, uncountable) Impurities formed and separated out when a metal is smelted from ore; vitrified cinders.
4. (countable, uncountable) Hard aggregate remaining as a residue from blast furnaces, sometimes used as a surfacing material.
5. (countable, uncountable) Scoria associated with a volcano.
6. (Australia, Ireland, UK, countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable) A prostitute or promiscuous woman; a slut.
7. (Ireland, UK, countable, dated, derogatory, uncountable) A coward.
8. (Cockney, Ireland, UK, countable, derogatory, uncountable) A contemptible person, a scumbag.

Verb

1. (transitive) To produce slag.
2. (intransitive) To become slag; to agglomerate when heated below the fusion point.
3. (transitive) To reduce to slag.
4. (UK, slang, transitive) To talk badly about; to malign or denigrate (someone).
5. (Ireland, slang, transitive) To make fun of; to take the piss (tease, ridicule or mock).
6. (Australia, intransitive, slang) To spit.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/slæɡ/

Etymology

Cognate with Old Saxon: slegi

Cognate with Dutch: slak

Cognate with German: Schlacke

Cognate with Swedish: slagg

Cognate with English: slay

In summary

Borrowed from Middle Low German slagge, slaggen (“slag, dross”), from Old Saxon *slaggo, from Proto-West Germanic *slaggō, from Proto-Germanic *slaggô, from Proto-Germanic *slagōną (“to strike”) + *-gô (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Low German slāgen (“to strike”), since originally the splinters struck off from the metal by hammering, from *slagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *slagōn. Compare also Old Saxon slegi, from Proto-West Germanic *slagi.
See also Dutch slak, German Schlacke, Swedish slagg; also compare English slay.

Synonyms

scoria

cinder

dross

clinker

scorify

slag formation

cinders

refuse

residue

dregs

slagging

sinter

flux

slut

sullage

tapping

tramp

trash

whore

molten slug

slagheap

abuse

scobs

scoriae

slag inclusion

slag-forming

slag-making

furnace slag

fused slag

slag patch

slag tap

tapping slag

slag tapping

cinder inclusion

slag spot

slag entrapment

slag occlusion

slag muck

press residues

tank waste

engine ash

moltenslag

molten-slag

formation of slag

slagoff

building of slag

denigrate

dust

fluxing

froth