slow-walk
English · 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.
slow-walk¹
Where it comes from
Attested since 1973 in Southern dialects of American English; prominent since the late 1990s. Thought by William Safire to derive from a Tennessee term for the walking gait of the Tennessee Walking Horse, which is generally called "flat walk", but sometimes a "slow walk".
verb slow-walks · slow-walking · slow-walked · slow walk
-
To delay a request or command, to drag one's feet, to stall, to obstruct, to drag out a process.
many of the men were simply standing around and were purposely ‘slow-walking’ the project […] to stretch out the term of employment.
Similar: drag one's feet, slow roll
slow-walk²
Where it comes from
Attested since 1962 in Southern (North and South Carolina) dialects of American English; of unknown origin.
verb slow-walks · slow-walking · slow-walked
- To punish, to chastise.
Talk about this word "slow-walk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/slow-walk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. slow-walk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/slow-walk "slow-walk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/slow-walk.Cite this
@misc{slow_walk_2026,
title = {slow-walk},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/slow-walk},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
