slam

• (UK) IPA^(key): /slæm/
• Rhymes: -æm

From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

1. (transitive, ergative) To shut with sudden force so as to produce a shock and noise.

   Don't slam the door!

2. (transitive, ergative) To put in or on a particular place with force and loud noise. (Often followed by a preposition such as down, against or into.)

   Don't slam that trunk down on the pavement!

3. (transitive) To strike forcefully with some implement.
   • 2011 January 18, “Wolverhampton 5 - 0 Doncaster”, in BBC‎:

     But Wolves went in front when Steven Fletcher headed in Stephen Hunt's cross and it was 2-0 when Geoffrey Mujangi Bia slammed in his first for the club.

4. (transitive, colloquial) To speak badly of; to criticize forcefully.

   Don't ever slam me in front of the boss like that again!

   Union leaders slammed the new proposals.

   Critics slammed the new film, calling it violent and meaningless.

5. (basketball) To dunk forcefully, to slam dunk.
6. (intransitive, bridge) To make a slam bid.
7. (transitive, card games) To defeat (opponents at cards) by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hoyle to this entry?)

8. (transitive, slang) to change providers (e.g. of domain registration or telephone carrier) for a customer without clear (if any) consent.
9. to drink off, to drink quickly
10. to compete in a poetry slam
11. (transitive, drugs, slang) to inject intravenously; shoot up

• (drink quickly): See also Thesaurus:drink
• (shoot up): bang

• slam the door on
• slam on the brakes

slam (countable and uncountable, plural slams)

1. (countable) A sudden impact or blow.
   • 1981, Shel Silverstein, “How Many, How Much”, A Light in the Attic, Harper & Row:

     How many slams in an old screen door? / Depends how loud you shut it.

2. (countable) The shock and noise produced by violently closing a door or other object.
   • Charles Dickens

     The slam and the scowl were lost upon Sam.

3. (countable, basketball) A slam dunk.
4. (countable, colloquial, US) An insult.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.

   I don't mean this as a slam, but you can be really impatient sometimes.

5. (uncountable) The yellow iron silicate produced in alum works as a waste product.
6. A poetry slam.
7. (Britain, dialectal) The refuse of alum works.

Origin unknown.

slam (plural slams)

1. (obsolete) A type of card game, also called ruff and honours.
2. (card games) Losing or winning all the tricks in a game.
3. (countable, bridge) A bid of six (small slam) or seven (grand slam) in a suit or no trump.
4. (sports) Winning all (or all but one) of the available, major or specified events in a given year or sports season.
   • 1955 August, “Carolina Grand Prix Benefits Crippled Children”, in American Motorcyclist, volume 9, number 8, page 21:

     In the 125 Grand Prix, I. D. Fuller (4) made it a grand slam by setting the fastest time trial, winning his heat and getting the checkered flag in the final.

   • 2012, Mark Stibbe, I am Your Father: What every heart needs to know, →ISBN, page 178:

     I have never been a fan of tennis, I'll be honest, but even I can appreciate a great tennis player when I see one, and one of the finest of all was the American champion, Andre Agassi. Agassi was at one time number one in the world. He won eight grand slam titles (including a Wimbledon title) and a gold medal in the Olympic Games.

   • 2014, Anthony Pritchard, Grand Prix Ferrari: The Years of Enzo Ferrari’s Power, 1948-1980, →ISBN:

     Musso then passed Collins and, only briefly, it looked as though there might be a Ferrari grand slam.

• grand slam
• little slam

slam (third-person singular simple present slams, present participle slamming, simple past and past participle slammed)

1. (transitive, card games) To defeat by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand.

Compare Dutch slomp, German Schlampe.

slam (plural slams)

1. (obsolete) A shambling fellow.

• AMLs, AMSL, LAMs, Lams, alms, lams, mals, masl, salm

slam m (plural slams)

1. poetry slam

• IPA^(key): [slam]

slam

1. dative of slě

From German Schlamm

slam n (definite singular slammet, uncountable)

1. mud, ooze, slime, sludge, slurry

• “slam” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slam” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From German Schlamm

slam n (definite singular slammet, uncountable)

1. mud, ooze, slime, sludge, slurry

• “slam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

slam

1. Islam