slaught-beam

UK/ˈslɔːt.biːm/

noun

Barrier.

“Raise the slaught-beam.”

OriginDutch slagboom ← German Schlagbaum →
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Meanings

nounslaught-beam (plural slaught-beams)

plural slaught-beams · alternative slaught-boom

  1. obsoletegovernmentBarrier.

    Raise the slaught-beam.

Origin

  1. GermanSchlagbaum
  2. Dutchslagboom
  3. Englishslaught-beam

Probably a calque of Dutch slagboom or German Schlagbaum. These are etymologically equivalent to English slay + beam, meaning a beam that can be banged (“slain”) down. The word slaught (related with slay) would have been chosen because it is phonetically closer to the continental words. Alternatively it might be a phono-semantic matching of Dutch sluitboom, which has the same sense, but literally means “closing beam”. In this case, however, the etymological relation between the element slaught and the above-mentioned words would be a curious coincidence.

More words from Dutch, German

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

slaught-beam. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught-beam

MLA

“slaught-beam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught-beam. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slaught-beam,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slaught-beam.

Source: slaught-beam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.