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.
Phrases and idioms:
slash-and-burn (of cultivation) in which vegetation is cut down, allowed to dry, and then burned off before seeds are planted.
Derivatives:
slasher n.
Etymology: ME perh. f. OF esclachier break in pieces