slice

From Middle English sclise, sklise, from Old French esclice, esclis (“a piece split off”), deverbal of esclicer, esclicier (“to splinter, split up”), from Frankish *slitjan (“to split up”), from Proto-Germanic *slitjaną, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to split, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd- (“to rend, injure, crumble”). Akin to Old High German sliz, gisliz (“a tear, rip”), Old High German slīzan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split up”), modern French éclisse. More at slite, slit.

• IPA^(key): /slaɪs/

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• Rhymes: -aɪs

slice (plural slices)

1. That which is thin and broad.
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     I pulled in hand over hand on the cord, and when I judged myself near enough, rose at infinite risk to about half my height and thus commanded the roof and a slice of the interior of the cabin.

2. A thin, broad piece cut off.

   a slice of bacon; a slice of cheese; a slice of bread

   Jim was munching on a slice of toast.

3. (colloquial) An amount of anything.
   • 2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool”, in BBC‎:

     Blackpool, chasing a seventh win in 17 league matches, simply could not contain Sunderland's rampant attack and had to resort to a combination of last-ditch defending, fine goalkeeping and a large slice of fortune.

4. A piece of pizza, shaped like a sector of a circle.
   • 2010, Andrea Renzoni, Eric Renzoni, Fuhgeddaboudit!, page 22:

     For breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the best Guido meal is a slice and a Coke.

5. (British) A snack consisting of pastry with savoury filling.

   I bought a ham and cheese slice at the service station.

6. A broad, thin piece of plaster.
7. A knife with a thin, broad blade for taking up or serving fish; also, a spatula for spreading anything, as paint or ink.
8. A salver, platter, or tray.
9. A plate of iron with a handle, forming a kind of chisel, or a spadelike implement, variously proportioned, and used for various purposes, as for stripping the planking from a vessel's side, for cutting blubber from a whale, or for stirring a fire of coals; a slice bar; a peel; a fire shovel.
10. One of the wedges by which the cradle and the ship are lifted clear of the building blocks to prepare for launching.
11. (printing) A removable sliding bottom to a galley.
12. (golf) A shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the right. See fade, hook, draw.

    Synonyms: banana ball, banana slice

13. (Australia, New Zealand, UK) Any of a class of heavy cakes or desserts made in a tray and cut out into squarish slices.
14. (medicine) A section of image taken of an internal organ using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), or various forms of x-ray.
15. (falconry) A hawk's or falcon's dropping which squirts at an angle other than vertical. (See mute.)
16. (programming) A contiguous portion of an array.

slice (third-person singular simple present slices, present participle slicing, simple past and past participle sliced)

1. (transitive) To cut into slices.

   Slice the cheese thinly.

2. (transitive) To cut with an edge using a drawing motion.

   The knife left sliced his arm.

3. (transitive) To clear (e.g. a fire, or the grate bars of a furnace) by means of a slice bar.
4. (transitive, badminton) To hit the shuttlecock with the racket at an angle, causing it to move sideways and downwards.
5. (transitive, golf) To hit a shot that slices (travels from left to right for a right-handed player).
6. (transitive, rowing) To angle the blade so that it goes too deeply into the water when starting to take a stroke.
7. (transitive, soccer) To kick the ball so that it goes in an unintended direction, at too great an angle or too high.
   • 2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 – 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chris Brunt sliced the spot-kick well wide but his error was soon forgotten as Olsson headed home from a corner.

8. (transitive, tennis) To hit the ball with a stroke that causes a spin, resulting in the ball swerving or staying low after a bounce.

slice (not comparable)

1. (mathematics) Having the properties of a slice knot.

• -sicle, Celis, ILECs, Leics, Sicel, ceils, ciels, clies, sicle

• IPA^(key): /slajs/

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slice

1. inflection of slicer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

From Proto-Celtic *sleggio, from *sleg, from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). See also Ancient Greek λᾰκίζω (lakízō, “to tear apart”).[1]

slice m (nominative plural slici)

1. shell

• slicén

• Irish: slige
• Manx: shlig
• Scottish Gaelic: slige