slot
English · Español · Français · Italiano · Português · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
slot¹
- /slɒt/ UK
- /slɑt/ US
Rhymes with -ɒt
Where it comes from
From Middle English slot, from Old French esclot, likely from Old Norse slóð (“track”). As a gambling machine, via clipping of slot machine. Compare sleuth. The scheduling (calendar) sense is by a metaphor whereby the time span is equated with the segment of a page or part of a device that represents it.
noun slots
-
A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it.
insert tab A into slot B
Opposite: tab
- A period of time or position within a schedule or sequence. I've booked your haircut for the 2 p.m. slot.
- Clipping of slot machine (“a game of chance played for money using a coin slot”). I walked past the poker tables and went straight to the slots.
- The track of an animal, especially a deer; spoor. The Huntsman by his slot, or breaking earth, perceaves
- A crack or fissure in a glacier or snowfield; a chasm; a crevasse. By this time of winter the edge of the ice is rafted up in confused floes, and often reveals slots and fissures quite large enough to hold a young husky prisoner.
- The vulva.
- The allocated time for an aircraft's departure or arrival at an airport's runway.
- A space in memory or on disk etc. in which a particular type of object can be stored. The game offers four save slots.
- In a flying display, the fourth position; after the leader and two wingmen.
- The barrel or tube of a wave.
- A rectangular area directly in front of the net and extending toward the blue line.
- The area between the last offensive lineman on either side of the center and the wide receiver on that side.
- A channel opening in the stator or rotor of a rotating machine for ventilation and insertion of windings. She'd like him jammed into her slot, like him to crank into her and she didn't think ignition would be far off if he did.
- The inside of the "rim" or semicircular copy desk, occupied by the supervisor of the copy editors. The slot is not a glamorous job. It hasn't been discovered by Shubert Alley or the fiction magazines. To the cub reporter, eager for by-lines and self-expression, the whole copy desk looks like a backwater.
- A fish that is within regulation size limits and hence can be caught and kept.
- A place in a character's inventory where items can be held. The Virtus robe top is a good item in the chest slot for magic attack.
verb slots · slotting · slotted
- To put something (such as a coin) into a slot (narrow aperture).
- To assign something or someone into a slot (gap in a schedule or sequence).
- To create a slot (narrow aperture or groove), as for example by cutting or machining.
- To put something where it belongs. And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside.
- To kill. One young soldier told me he couldn't bear to shoot the wild game in Rhodesia, but he had no trouble "slotting" floppies. "The more I kill," he said, "the better I feel. They're ruining everything for us."
- To fall, or cause to fall, into a crevasse. The D-4s being heavy vehicles, were in difficulties with crevasses right from the start. At one stage Wood said cheerfully, "Let's give the game away after we get a D-4 slotted one more time", expecting just to get a track break through over a hole. The next minute his machine with him in it disappe
- To kick the ball between the posts for a goal; to score a goal by doing this.
slot²
- /slɒt/ UK
- /slɑt/ US
Rhymes with -ɒt
Where it comes from
From Middle English slot, from Middle Low German slot or Middle Dutch slot, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *slot, from Proto-Germanic *slutą, related to the verb *sleutaną (“to lock”). Cognate with Dutch slot, German Schloss (“door-bolt”).
The verb is probably from Middle Dutch sluten (“to close, to lock”) (Modern Dutch sluiten (“to close”)).
noun slots · slote
- A broad, flat, wooden bar, a slat, especially as used to secure a door, window, etc.
- A metal bolt or wooden bar, especially as a crosspiece.
- An implement for barring, bolting, locking or securing a door, box, gate, lid, window or the like.
- A fort or castle. Thou paydst for building of a slot, That wrought thine own decay.
verb slots · slotting · slotted · slote
- To bar, bolt or lock a door or window.
- To shut with violence; to slam. to slot a door
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: berth, place, spot, time slot, position, expansion slot, post, situation, one-armed bandit, office, keyhole, groove, niche, chute, trench, hole
Translations
Every language
noun narrow depression, perforation, or aperture
| Español | ranura, hendidura, muesca, rehendija, redendija |
|---|---|
| Português | fenda, ranhura, abertura |
| Français | emplacement, fente |
| Deutsch | Schlitz, Nut |
| Italiano | fessura, scanalatura |
| Русский | щель ščelʹ, отве́рстие otvérstije, слот slot |
noun allocated time for an aircraft's departure or arrival
| Português | faixa horária |
|---|---|
| Français | créneau |
| Deutsch | Startfenster |
noun wooden bar for fastening door
| 中文 | 门闩 ménshuān, 門閂 /门闩 ménshuān |
|---|---|
| Français | barre |
| Deutsch | Türriegel |
| Italiano | chiavistello |
| Русский | засо́в zasóv, запо́р zapór, задви́жка zadvížka, щеко́лда ščekólda |
noun broad bolt or bar, crosspiece
| Italiano | sbarra |
|---|
Talk about this word "slot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/slot. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. slot. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/slot "slot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/slot.Cite this
@misc{slot_2026,
title = {slot},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/slot},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
