I. slot 1 /slɒt $ slɑːt/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: esclot 'hollow place in the bone in the middle of the chest' ]
1 . a long narrow hole in a surface, that you can put something into:
Alan dropped another quarter into the slot on the pay phone.
2 . a short period of time allowed for one particular event on a programme or ↑ timetable :
a ten-minute slot on the breakfast show
landing slots at Heathrow Airport
A new comedy is scheduled for the 9 pm time slot.
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THESAURUS
▪ hole an empty space in the surface of something, which sometimes goes all the way through it:
A fox had dug a hole under our fence.
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Rain was coming in through a hole in the roof.
▪ space an empty area between two things, into which you can put something:
Are there any empty spaces on the bookshelf?
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a parking space
▪ gap an empty area between two things or two parts of something, especially one that should not be there:
He has a gap between his two front teeth.
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I squeezed through a gap in the hedge.
▪ opening a hole that something can pass through or that you can see through, especially at the entrance of something:
The train disappeared into the dark opening of the tunnel.
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I looked through the narrow opening in the wall.
▪ leak a small hole where something has been damaged or broken that lets liquid or gas flow in or out:
a leak in the pipe
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The plumber's coming to repair the leak.
▪ puncture especially British English a small hole in a tyre through which air escapes:
My bike's got a puncture.
▪ crack a very narrow space between two things or two parts of something:
The snake slid into a crack in the rock.
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She was peering through the crack in the curtains.
▪ slot a straight narrow hole that you put a particular type of object into:
You have to put a coin in the slot before you dial the number.
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A small disk fits into a slot in the camera.
▪ crater a round hole in the ground made by an explosion or by a large object hitting it hard:
a volcanic crater
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The meteor left a crater over five miles wide.
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the craters on the moon
II. slot 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle slotted , present participle slotting ) [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition]
to go into a slot, or to put something in a slot
slot something into something
Mary slotted a cassette into the VCR.
slot into
Each length of board slots easily into the next.
All the wood parts come pre-cut so that they can be slotted together (=put together using slots) .
slot in phrasal verb British English informal
to fit something or someone into a plan, organization etc, or to fit in:
Stewart has slotted in well.
slot somebody/something ↔ in
We should be able to slot the meeting in before lunch.