slit

From Old English slītan, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyd- (“to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart”). Possibly cognate with Latin laed- (“to strike, hurt, injure”). Doublet of slite; also related to slice through French borrowing. Apparently unrelated to English slot, whose etymology, however, is uncertain.

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɪt

slit (plural slits)

1. A narrow cut or opening; a slot.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].

2. (vulgar slang) The vulva.
3. (synecdochically, vulgar slang) A woman, usually a sexually loose woman; a prostitute.

slit (third-person singular simple present slits, present participle slitting, simple past slit, past participle slit or (obsolete) slitten)

1. To cut a narrow opening.

   He slit the bag open and the rice began pouring out.

2. To split into strips by lengthwise cuts.
3. (transitive) To cut; to sever; to divide.
   • 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

     And slits the thin-spun life.

slit (not comparable)

1. Having a cut narrow opening

• &lits, List, list, lits, silt, tils

• IPA^(key): [ˈslɪt]

slit

1. masculine singular passive participle of slít

From Old Norse *slit.

• IPA^(key): /stlɪːt/
• Rhymes: -ɪːt

slit n (genitive singular slits, no plural)

1. wear and tear

• slitna

• list

slit

1. imperative of slite

slit

1. inflection of slita:
   1. present
   2. imperative

• IPA^(key): /sliːt/

slīt

1. third-person singular present indicative of slīdan

Deverbal from slita (“to toil”).

slit n

1. toil, labour (grueling work)

• slit och släp

• slita
• slitig
• slitsam

slit

1. imperative of slita

• list, lits, silt, stil