Dictionary

slab en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

Meanings

1. A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
   • Then there was the Mexican who sold big slabs of chewing taffy for five cents each. […] And many a day I made my entire lunch off of one of those slabs. 1913 August, Jack London, chapter V, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 45:
   • “The pier? You mean those few sodden logs tied together and that dingy slab of rough concrete.” 2010, Ryan Humphreys, The Flirtations of Dan Harris, page 73:
   • There were no windows in the inn. They were not required, since the interstices between the slabs suffered the wind, the rain, and the light of day to penetrate simultaneously. 1859, John Lang, Botany Bay, or, True Tales of Early Australia, page 155:
   • I was working in the lab late one night When my eyes beheld an eerie sight For my monster, from his slab, began to rise And suddenly, to my surprise He did the Mash He did the Monster Mash. 1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:
2. A paving stone; a flagstone.
3. (Australia) A carton containing 24 cans (chiefly of beer).
   • 2008, Diem Vo, Family Life, Alice Pung (editor), page 156, However, unlike in Ramsay Street, there were never any cups of tea or bickies served. Instead, each family unit came armed with a slab of beer.
   • The older man bought a slab of Coca-Cola at the counter and carried it out ahead of the younger man. 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 88:
   • One essential part of the strategy for selling regionally identified beers beyond their borders was the selling of slabs — a package of four six-packs of stubbies or cans — for discounted prices interstate. 2009, Ross Fitzgerald, Trevor Jordan, Under the Influence: A History of Alcohol in Australia, published 2011, unnumbered page:
   • The Australians murder a few slabs of beer and the New Zealanders murder a few vowels. 2001, Les Carlyon, Gallipoli, page 8:
   • Common 375-ml cans are called tinnies, and can be bought in 24-can slabs for discounted prices. 2010, Holly Smith, Perth, Western Australia & the Outback, Hunter Publishing, unnumbered page:
4. An outside piece taken from a log or timber when sawing it into boards, planks, etc.
5. The slack part of a sail.
6. A very large wave.
   • In August 2000 he successfully rode a slab of unfathomable power at Teahupo′o. 2011, Douglas Booth, Surfing: The Ultimate Guide, page 95:
   • After being towed into a massive slab, Dorian dropped down the face and caught a rail, putting him in a near-impossible situation. 2009, Bruce Boal, The Surfing Yearbook, SurfersVillage, page 31:
7. The amount by which a cache can grow or shrink, used in memory allocation.
8. Part of a tectonic plate that is being, or has been, subducted.
   • Being driven by the gravitational force, the subducting Pacific slab continues to sink down to the boundary between the upper and lower mantle […] 2015, Dapeng Zhao, Multiscale Seismic Tomography, Springer, page 72:
9. A poured-concrete foundation for a building.
   • Next week they'll pour the slab that the shed will sit on.
10. A region between two parallel lines in the Euclidean plane, or between two parallel planes in three-dimensional Euclidean space, or between two hyperplanes in higher dimensions.
11. (India, especially) Any of the several portions or tiers in a tax rate plan.
    • The 56th meeting of the GST Council [for the Goods and Services Tax] on September 3, 2025 will be remembered as a defining milestone in India's tax history. These reforms go far beyond tax rates and structures. They represent a decisive shift towards a simpler, fairer, and growth-oriented system that is aligned with the aspirations of a Viksit Bharat 2047. A long-standing demand of both industry and consumers has been simplification of the multiple GST slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%). The move to a transparent “Simple Tax”, with just two rates, 18% as the Standard Rate and 5% as the Merit Rate, along with a 40% de-merit rate for a select few goods — is transformational. 2025 September 5, Chandrajit Banerjee, “GST 2.0 is a landmark in India's tax journey. The simplification of the multiple GST slabs is an example of people's reform”, in The Hindu:
    • Near-synonym: tax bracket
12. A flat, sealed plastic case that encloses a flat collector's item, such as a coin or a trading card.
13. (US, slang) A large, luxury pre-1980 General Motors vehicle, particularly a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac.
    • After a few loops around the park, some drivers—most of them Black and Latino men in their twenties and thirties driving customized lowriders, bright, candy-colored slabs, and jacked-up trucks with flashy chrome rims—packed into a nearby middle school parking lot. 2021 March 23, Peter Holley, “They Just Moved Into an Austin Neighborhood. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions.”, in Texas Monthly:
    • Video screens have also become a standard part of slab interiors. 2016, Langston Collin Wilkins, “Officially Ridin' Swangas: Slab as tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Houston, Texas”, in Michelle L. Stefano, Peter Davis, editor, The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage, page 206:
14. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, physical) Ellipsis of slab avalanche.
    alt of slab avalanche

Forms

Deriveds

slab city · helislab · windslab · slab-track · backslab · waffle slab · slab-serif · grading slab · slabness · slab pull · fondleslab · half slab · two-way joist slab · mud slab · slab on grade · slab-sided · slab line · slab track · graded slab · slab hut · slabwise · slab serif · slablike · slab avalanche · Slabber · slabby · doorslab · paving slab · split slab · intraslab · slab cake · mat slab

Hypernyms

boat · car · vehicle · motor vehicle · sled · land yacht

Synonyms

tax bracket

Translations (93)

gl lastra (flat piece of material) · de Platte (flat piece of material) · de Tafel (flat piece of material) · el πλάκα (flat piece of material) · sv platta (flat piece of material) · ro dală (paving stone) · es llábana (flat piece of material) · de Pflasterplatte (paving stone) · es lastra (flat piece of material) · cmn 鋼板 /钢板 (flat piece of material) · ja スラブ (flat piece of material) · bg плоча (flat piece of material) · ru слэ́б (flat piece of material) · gl lastra (paving stone) · pt laje (flat piece of material) · it soletta (flat piece of material) · de Bodenelement (flat piece of material) · bg плочка (paving stone) · de Fliese (paving stone) · ur سِلاپ (flat piece of material) · it piastra (flat piece of material) · de Steinplatte (paving stone) · de Bodenfliese (paving stone) · hy սալաքար (paving stone) · sl plošča (flat piece of material) · de Steinfliese (paving stone) · es adoquín (paving stone) · ca tauló (flat piece of material) · grc ἄβαξ (flat piece of material) · fi kimpale (flat piece of material) · hy սալ (flat piece of material) · hy սալ (paving stone) · es laja (flat piece of material) · sl tablica (flat piece of material) · gl lamela (flat piece of material) · ja 平板 (flat piece of material) · no steinhelle (paving stone) · cmn 厚板 (flat piece of material) · fi laatta (paving stone) · de Scheibe (flat piece of material) · es laja (paving stone) · pl płyta (paving stone) · gl laxe (flat piece of material) · de Wandelement (flat piece of material) · gl launa (flat piece of material) · it piastrella (paving stone) · gl lamia (flat piece of material) · el πλάκα (paving stone) · es pavés (paving stone) · es tabla (flat piece of material) · es losa (flat piece of material) · it mattonella (paving stone) · ga leac (flat piece of material) · de Bodenplatte (paving stone) · es baldosa (paving stone) · it lastra (flat piece of material) · fi laatta (flat piece of material) · ca llosa (paving stone) · ga leac (paving stone) · ca placa (flat piece of material) · ro lespede (paving stone) · es plancha (flat piece of material) · sv skiva (flat piece of material) · it fetta (flat piece of material) · eu harlauza (paving stone) · fr chape (flat piece of material) · pt laje (paving stone) · ro placă (flat piece of material) · ru плита́ (flat piece of material) · it lastra (paving stone) · es losa (paving stone) · pt placa (paving stone) · eo slabo (paving stone) · es lastra (paving stone) · gl lousa (paving stone) · ar بَلَاط (paving stone) · de Pflasterstein (paving stone) · de Platte (paving stone) · es lámina (flat piece of material) · hi सिलाप (flat piece of material) · fi levy (flat piece of material) · cmn 平板 (flat piece of material) · cmn 水泥板 (flat piece of material) · gl placa (flat piece of material) · de Deckenplatte (flat piece of material) · de Gehwegplatte (paving stone) · de Fliesenplatte (paving stone) · fr dalle (paving stone) · cmn 石板 (flat piece of material) · es lancha (paving stone) · ru плита́ (paving stone) · ru плитня́к (flat piece of material) · sl tlakovec (paving stone)

slab en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make into a slab.
2. (informal, transitive) To destroy (a structure) so completely as to leave only the foundation slab visible.
   • Multiple homes were slabbed by the monster tornado.

Forms

Synonyms

raze

slab en · ADJ · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Compare Scottish Gaelic slàib (“mud”) and Irish slaba (“muddy flat”), and English slop (“puddle”).

Meanings

1. (archaic) Thick; viscous.
   • Make the gruel thick and slab: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

Forms

slab en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Compare Scottish Gaelic slàib (“mud”) and Irish slaba (“muddy flat”), and English slop (“puddle”).

Meanings

1. (archaic, uncountable) Mud, sludge, or other viscous matter.
   • Some do also plant oziers in their eights, like quick-sets, thick, and (near the water) keep them not more than half a foot above ground; but then they must be diligently cleansed from moss, slab, and ouze, and frequently prun'd (especially the smaller spires) to form single shoots;[…]. 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

Deriveds

slabby

slab en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Acronym of Slow, Loud And Bangin'. This term been popularized through the southern rap genre of hip-hop, most notably by rappers such as Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Lil' Keke, and others.

Meanings

1. (Southern-US, slang) A car that has been modified with equipment such as loudspeakers, lights, special paint, hydraulics, and other accessories.
   • I'mma swang, I'mma swing my slab lean to the left 2006, Trae (featuring Pimp C and Big Hawk), "Swang", Restless
   • Pull me over, try to check my slab 2005, Chamillionaire (featuring Krayzie Bone), "Ridin'", The Sound of Revenge
   • All three of them recognized who the Lexus'^([sic]) belonged to so he parked his slab and they cocked their guns. 2012, Bobby Austin, By All Mean$, AuthorHouse, published 2012, →ISBN, page 56:

Forms

slab en · NOUN · etymology 4

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (British, dialectal, obsolete) A bird, the wryneck.

Forms

slab en · NOUN · etymology 5

Pronunciation

• /slæb/
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From syllable.

Meanings

1. A sequence of 12 adjacent bits, serving as a byte in some computers.

Forms