slice

That which is thin and broad.

Adjective

  1. Having the properties of a slice knot.

Origin

From Middle English sclise, sklise, from Old French esclice, esclis (“a piece split off”), deverbal of esclicer, esclicier (“to splinter, split up”), from Frankish *slitjan (“to split up”), from Proto-Germanic *slitjaną, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to split, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd- (“to rend, injure, crumble”). Akin to Old High German sliz, gisliz (“a tear, rip”), Old High German slīȥan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split up”), modern French éclisse. More at slite, slit.

Derived

sliceness

Noun

  1. That which is thin and broad.
    • I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and when I judged myself near enough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commanded the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin. - 1881–1882, Robert Louis...
  2. A thin, broad piece cut off.
    • a slice of bacon; a slice of cheese; a slice of bread
    • Jim was munching on a slice of toast.

    Synonyms: cutting snippet bit chip chunk clip crumb crumbling flake fleak fragment hunk lump mammock ort piece piecemeal portion scrap scraplet slice snead steck

  3. An amount of anything.
    • Blackpool, chasing a seventh win in 17 league matches, simply could not contain Sunderland's rampant attack and had to resort to a combination of last-ditch defending, fine goalkeeping and a large slice of fortune. -...
  4. A piece of pizza, shaped like a sector of a circle.
    • For breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the best Guido meal is a slice and a Coke. - 2010, Andrea Renzoni, Eric Renzoni, Fuhgeddaboudit!, page 22:
  5. A snack consisting of pastry with savoury filling.
    • I bought a ham and cheese slice at the service station.
  6. A broad, thin piece of plaster.
  7. A knife with a thin, broad blade for taking up or serving fish; also, a spatula for spreading anything, as paint or ink.
  8. A salver, platter, or tray.
  9. A plate of iron with a handle, forming a kind of chisel, or a spadelike implement, variously proportioned, and used for various purposes, as for stripping the planking from a vessel's side, for cutting blubber from a whale, or for stirring a fire of coals; a slice bar; a peel; a fire shovel.
  10. One of the wedges by which the cradle and the ship are lifted clear of the building blocks to prepare for launching.
  11. A removable sliding bottom to a galley.
  12. A shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the right. See fade, hook, draw.

    Synonyms: banana ball banana slice

Forms

slices

Derived

bit slice cake slice caramel slice cream slice custard slice egg slice fish slice fried slice galley slice hedgehog slice home slice hyperslice interslice it's been a slice jumbo slice microslice midslice minislice multislice nanoslice Napoleon slice orthoslice slice bar slice category

Verb

  1. To cut into slices.
    • Slice the cheese thinly.
  2. To cut with an edge using a drawing motion.
    • The knife left sliced his arm.
    • How could it all be / We've never been dead / But never awake from this dream / How could it all be / We've never been dead / Just mirrors running scared / Slicing wrists while we look for our own mortality / All the...
  3. To clear (e.g. a fire, or the grate bars of a furnace) by means of a slice bar.
  4. To hit the shuttlecock with the racket at an angle, causing it to move sideways and downwards.
  5. To hit a shot that slices (travels from left to right for a right-handed player).
  6. To angle the blade so that it goes too deeply into the water when starting to take a stroke.
  7. To kick the ball so that it goes in an unintended direction, at too great an angle or too high.
    • Chris Brunt sliced the spot-kick well wide but his error was soon forgotten as Olsson headed home from a corner. - 2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 – 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
  8. To hit the ball with a stroke that causes a spin, resulting in the ball swerving or staying low after a bounce.

Forms

slices slicing sliced

Derived

any way one slices it cryoslice misslice no matter how one slices it no matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney preslice reslice salami-slice sliceability sliceable slice and dice sliced bread slice off slicer slicery slice the pie slice through slice up slow slicing unslice