slite

Meanings

verbslite (third-person singular simple present slites, present participle sliting, simple past slit or slited, past participle slit or slited or slitten)

present singular third person slites · participle present sliting · past slit · past slited · participle past slit · participle past slited · participle past slitten · alternative sleight · alternative slight · alternative slyte

dialectaltransitiveTo slit; tear or rip up.
dialectaltransitiveTo wear away (clothes).

nounslite (uncountable)

alternative sleight · alternative slight · alternative slyte

dialectaluncountableThe act or process of ripping up; rending; wear and tear.

Origin

Proto-Indo-European*skleyd-
Proto-Germanic*slītaną“to tear”
Proto-West Germanic*slītan
Old Englishslītan“to slit, tear, rend, shiver, split, rend to pieces, cleave, divide”
Middle Englishsliten
Englishslite

From Middle English sliten, from Old English slītan (“to slit, tear, rend, shiver, split, rend to pieces, cleave, divide”), from Proto-West Germanic *slītan, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *skleyd-, *(s)kelH- (“to cut, trim”). Cognate with North Frisian slitten (“to clear, make void”), Dutch slijten (“to wear, waste, ravel out”), German schleißen (“to trim”), Swedish slita (“to rip, tear”). Doublet of slit. More at slice.