Dictionary

slaty en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈsleɪti/ (UK)

Etymology

Etymology tree English slate Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English slaty From slate + -y.

Meanings

1. Resembling the rock slate.
   • Their faces and hands were yellow as saffron; their small and slaty eyes were set obliquely beneath lashless lids; and their thin lips, which smiled eternally, were crooked. as the blades of scimitars. 1933-03, Clark Ashton Smith, "The Isle of the Torturers", Weird Tales
2. Of a light grey colour as slate.
   • But snow had now begun to fall out of a forbiddingly slaty-grey sky, and this seemed to depress both engine and crew. 1949 May and June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 192:

Forms

Deriveds

great slaty woodpecker · Planalto slaty antshrike · slaty-backed gull · slaty-legged crake · slaty-grey snake · Natterer's slaty antshrike · Sooretama slaty antshrike · Bolivian slaty antshrike · slaty bristlefront · slatily · Guianan slaty antshrike · slaty-breasted tinamou · slatiness · western slaty antshrike · Peruvian slaty antshrike