v. & n.
v. 1 intr. make a sweeping or random cut or cuts with a knife, sword, whip, etc. 2 tr. make such a cut or cuts at. 3 tr. make a long narrow gash or gashes in. 4 tr. reduce (prices etc.) drastically. 5 tr. censure vigorously. 6 tr. make (one's way) by slashing. 7 tr. a lash (a person etc.) with a whip. b crack (a whip).
n. 1 a a slashing cut or stroke. b a wound or slit made by this. 2 an oblique stroke; a solidus. 3 Brit. sl. an act of urinating. 4 US debris resulting from the felling or destruction of trees. slash-and-burn (of cultivation) in which vegetation is cut down, allowed to dry, and then burned off before seeds are planted. slasher n.
[ ME perh. f. OF esclachier break in pieces ]