slag

Meanings

Noun

• Waste material from a mine.
• Scum that forms on the surface of molten metal.
• Impurities formed and separated out when a metal is smelted from ore; vitrified cinders.
• Hard aggregate remaining as a residue from blast furnaces, sometimes used as a surfacing material.
• Scoria associated with a volcano.
• A coward.
• A contemptible person, a scumbag.
• A prostitute.
• A woman (sometimes a man) who has loose morals relating to sex; a slut.

Verb

• To produce slag.
• To become slag; to agglomerate when heated below the fusion point.
• To reduce to slag.
• To talk badly about; to malign or denigrate (someone).
• To spit.

Origin

• Borrowed from Middle Low German slagge (whence also Dutch slak, German Schlacke, Swedish slagg); originally, the splinters struck off from the metal by hammering; compare slay.