slang

plural slangs

1. countableuncountableLanguage outside of conventional usage and in the informal register.

   English-speaking Australians have always had a love affair with slang.

   1996, James Lambert, The Macquarie Book of Slang, Sydney: Macquarie Library, page v

   2 more examples

   She was amused by his talk, which was simple, straightforward, rather humorous and keen, and interspersed with homely expressions of a style which is sometimes called slang.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 26, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   After years when I met a friend inside the aircraft and could sense stiffness in the conversation, a whiff of mild slang was the ice breaker, followed by loads of campus nostalgia.

   2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025

2. countableuncountableLanguage that is unique to a particular profession or subject; jargon.
3. countableuncountableThe specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to conceal one's meaning from outsiders; cant.

   1 more example

   "Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is getting to be shopkeepers' slang. / "Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity. / "Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class." / "There is correct English: that is not slang." / "I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."

   1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 172

4. countableA particular variety of slang; the slang used by a particular group.

   [F]or a detailed analysis see Liberman (2008 157ff) who sees it as one of a number of terms found in pan-European slangs meaning concealment and/or cheating.

   2023, Jonathon Green, Green’s Dictionary of Slang

5. countableAn item of slang; a slang word or expression.

   More importantly and closer to life, slangs help build an instant intimacy and informality.

   2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025

   2 more examples

   Anyway, I have learned many slangs while I am in New York, and one of them, a remarkable slang, is sheister.

   1921, Horace Fish, The Great Way: A Story of the Joyful, the Sorrowful, the Glorious, New York: Mitchell Kennerley

   The internet comes up with so many slangs used by people to survive in the online world. Many of those slangs are in the form of abbreviations, for instance, the word "u" which refers to "you"[.]

   2019, Hendi Pratama, Linguistic Politeness in Online Communication, Semarang: LPPS Unnes

6. IndiacountableA curse word.

   Such attempts were made even more aggressive by the fact that these local women were known for picking fights easily and using slangs to verbally abuse their neighbours.

   2021, Sadan Jha, Dev Nath Pathak, Amiya Kumar Das, Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In Between Home and the City, page 82

present singular third person slangs · participle present slanging · participle past slanged · past slanged

1. datedtransitiveTo vocally abuse, or shout at.

   "If they had been a row of his favorite Pressmen he could not have slanged them worse."

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Also, he had to keep his temper when he was slanged in the theatre porch by a policeman.

   1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Miss Youghal's Sais”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2007, page 26

   Stephen feared that he would yell louder, and was hostile. But they made friends and treated each other, and slanged the proprietor and ragged the pretty girls …

   1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XII [Uniform ed., p. 130]

1. archaicpastsimple past of sling

   Before he slang the all-deciding stone[…]

   1836, Edward Bagnall, Saul and David

plural slangs · alternative slanket

1. UKdialectalAny long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.

   There runneth forth into the sea a certaine shelfe or slang, like unto an out~thrust tongue.

   1610, William Camden, translated by Philémon Holland, Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC

plural slangs

1. UKobsoleteA fetter worn on the leg by a convict.
2. UKobsoleteA counterfeit weight or measure.
3. UKobsoleteA travelling show, or one of its performances.
4. UKobsoleteA hawker's license.
5. UKobsoleteA watchchain.

present singular third person slangs · participle present slanging · participle past slanged · past slanged

1. Multicultural London EnglishtransitiveAfrican-American VernacularTo sell (something, especially illegal drugs).

   Everyday I wake up gotta get back to the gwop Just another fuckin day in that gangway slangin rocks

   2014, “Bail Out”, Cdai (lyrics), performed by RondoNumbaNine ft. Cdai

   3 more examples

   Whip, whip in the trap do up kitchen that's food (that's food) Cookin up grub Fuck, these niggas cookin up soup (uhhhhh) Slang the crack or the black Put the light and dark on the move Gold and brown and cute Gyal love me and I love them too (too)

   2016, “Call Me A Spartan”, TG Millian (lyrics), performed by Harlem Spartans (Blanco, Zico, Bis, TG Millian, MizorMac)

   Bro I’m booky, I’ll take your food if my belly starts rumbling They rap about bootings, they ain’t blammed nobody Hold that properly when I bang that dotty I put sniff in a rex, and I slang that bobby

   2017, “Next Up?”, Digga D (lyrics), performed by 1011 (Digga D x Sav'O x T.Y)

   Bro is in the kitchen, know he can’t cook He is whipping shit that we use to slang This fat prick wanna chat on YouTube still had to cheat to deny he’s gang

   2019 October 18, “Feed' Em”performed by #SG Jibbzy, 1:17–1:23

   Synonyms: sling, flog