SLACKS
slacks
(noun) (used in the plural) pants for casual wear
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Proper noun
Slacks
plural of Slack
Noun
slacks
plural of slack
Noun
slacks pl (plural only)
(dated) Semi-formal trousers that are less formal than those part of a suit but suitable for wearing in most offices and therefore nowadays no longer considered casual trousers. (Takes a plural verb even when referring to a single pair; may be referred to as a pair of slacks)
Usage notes
The term is old-fashioned and now used mostly by older people and by the clothing industry in the US. (It was never common in British English.) Despite being no longer considered casual clothing, they are incorrectly still defined as casual trousers by all major American and British dictionaries.
Verb
slacks
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of slack
Source: Wiktionary
SLACK
Slack, n. Etym: [Cf. Slag.]
Definition: Small coal; also, coal dust; culm. Raymond.
Slack, n. Etym: [Icel. slakki a slope on a mountain edge.]
Definition: A valley, or small, shallow dell. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.
Slack, a. [Compar. Slacker; superl. Slackest.] Etym: [OE. slak, AS.
sleac; akin to OS. slak, OHG. slah, Prov. G. schlack, Icel. slakr,
Sw. slak; cf. Skr. srsj to let loose, to throw. Cf. Slake.]
Definition: Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a
slack rope.
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.
Cslack 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.
Slack, adv.
Definition: Slackly; as, slack dried hops.
Slack, n.
Definition: The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon
it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.
Slack, Slack"en, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Slacked, Slackened (; p. pr. &
vb. n. Slacking, Slackening.] Etym: [See Slack, a.]
1. To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to
decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather.
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.
Slack, Slack"en, v. t.
1. To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope;
to slacken a bandage. Wycklif (Acts xxvii. 40)
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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition