2. Weak; not holding fast; as, a slack hand. --Milton.
3. Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not
earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness. --2 Pet. iii.
9.
4. Not violent, rapid, or pressing; slow; moderate; easy; as,
business is slack. ``With slack pace.'' --Chaucer.
C?sar . . . about sunset, hoisting sail with a slack
southwest, at midnight was becalmed. --Milton.
{Slack in stays} (Naut.), slow in going about, as a ship.
{Slack water}, the time when the tide runs slowly, or the
water is at rest; or the interval between the flux and
reflux of the tide.
{Slack-water navigation}, navigation in a stream the depth of
which has been increased, and the current diminished, by a
dam or dams.
Syn: Loose; relaxed; weak; remiss; backward; abated;
diminished; inactive; slow; tardy; dull.
2. To neglect; to be remiss in. [Obs.] --Shak.
Slack not the pressage. --Dryden.
3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water;
to slake; as, to slack lime.
4. To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or
less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken
industry. ``Rancor for to slack.'' --Chaucer.
I should be grieved, young prince, to think my
presence Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to
arms. --Addison.
In this business of growing rich, poor men should
slack their pace. --South.
With such delay Well plased, they slack their
course. --Milton.
5. To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to
ease.
To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this
ill mansion. --Milton.
{Air-slacked lime}, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in
consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water,
by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and
hydrate of lime.
2. To be remiss or backward; to be negligent.
3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination
with water; to slake; as, lime slacks.
4. To abate; to become less violent.
Whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his
breath stir not their flames. --Milton.
5. To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of
water slackens.
6. To languish; to fail; to flag.
7. To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. [Obs.]
That through your death your lineage should slack.
--Chaucer.
They will not of that firste purpose slack.
--Chaucer.