n. & v.
n. 1 a malicious, false, and injurious statement spoken about a person. 2 the uttering of such statements; calumny. 3 Law false oral defamation (cf. LIBEL).
v.tr. utter slander about; defame falsely. slanderer n. slanderous adj. slanderously adv.
[ ME sclaundre f. AF esclaundre, OF esclandre alt. f. escandle f. LL scandalum: see SCANDAL ]