Slow (?), obs.

imp. of Slee, to slay. Slew.

Chaucer.

 

© Webster 1913.


Slow (?), a. [Compar. Slower (?); superl. Slowest.] [OE. slow, slaw, AS. slaw; akin to OS. slu blunt, dull, D. sleeuw, slee, sour, OHG. slo blunt, dull, Icel. slr, slr, Dan. slov, Sw. slo. Cf. Sloe, and Sloth.]

1.

Moving a short space in a relatively long time; not swift; not quick in motion; not rapid; moderate; deliberate; as, a slow stream; a slow motion.

2.

Not happening in a short time; gradual; late.

These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast. Milton.

3.

Not ready; not prompt or quick; dilatory; sluggish; as, slow of speech, and slow of tongue.

Fixed on defense, the Trojans are not slow To guard their shore from an expected foe. Dryden.

4.

Not hasty; not precipitate; acting with deliberation; tardy; inactive.

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. Prov. xiv. 29.

5.

Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time; as, the clock or watch is slow.

6.

Not advancing or improving rapidly; as, the slow growth of arts and sciences.

7.

Heavy in wit; not alert, prompt, or spirited; wearisome; dull.

[Colloq.]

Dickens. Thackeray.

Slow is often used in the formation of compounds for the most part self-explaining; as, slow-gaited, slow-paced, slow-sighted, slow-winged, and the like.

Slow coach, a slow person. See def.7, above. [Colloq.] -- Slow lemur, ∨ Slow loris Zool., an East Indian nocturnal lemurine animal (Nycticebus tardigradus) about the size of a small cat; -- so called from its slow and deliberate movements. It has very large round eyes and is without a tail. Called also bashful Billy. -- Slow match. See under Match.

Syn. -- Dilatory; late; lingering; tardy; sluggish; dull; inactive. -- Slow, Tardy, Dilatory. Slow is the wider term, denoting either a want of rapid motion or inertness of intellect. Dilatory signifies a proneness to defer, a habit of delaying the performance of what we know must be done. Tardy denotes the habit of being behind hand; as, tardy in making up one's acounts.

 

© Webster 1913.


Slow, adv.

Slowly.

Let him have time to mark how slow time goes In time of sorrow. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Slow, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Slowing.]

To render slow; to slacken the speed of; to retard; to delay; as, to slow a steamer.

Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Slow, v. i.

To go slower; -- often with up; as, the train slowed up before crossing the bridge.

<-- also with down. -->

 

© Webster 1913.


Slow, n.

A moth.

[Obs.]

Rom. of R.

 

© Webster 1913.

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