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| slate [ slayt ] |
noun (plural slates) |
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| Definition: |
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1. layered rock: a fine-grained metamorphic rock that splits easily into layers and is widely used as a roofing material
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2. roofing tile: a roofing tile made of slate
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3. writing tablet: a small square piece of slate formerly used for writing on, especially by school students. It could be wiped clean and reused indefinitely.
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4. identifying board on movie set: a board used on a movie set to give information identifying something such as the number of the scene being shot
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5. dark gray: a dark gray color
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6. politics list of candidates: a list of the candidates in an election
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transitive verb (past and past participle slat·ed, present participle slat·ing, 3rd person present singular slates) |
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| Definition: |
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1. tile roof with slate: to cover a roof with tiles made of slate
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2. politics include somebody in list of candidates: to put somebody's name on a list of candidates for election
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3. designate somebody: to choose or schedule somebody or something for a particular job or time
 You've been slated to be our next director.
 The satellite is slated for launch in December.
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4. U.K. subject somebody to harsh criticism: to criticize somebody or something severely
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informal
)
 His last play was slated by the critics.
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| [14th century. < Old French esclate, feminine of esclat "splinter, piece broken off"] |
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 slate adjective |
 slat·y adjective |
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a clean slate an imaginary record of somebody's past, with no bad marks recorded on it or with all previous bad marks forgotten (informal)
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wipe the slate clean to forget about what has happened and make a fresh start (informal)
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