SLOW • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Slow

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adjective

Slow adj. (compar. slower; superl. slowest)

1.

Moving a short space in a relatively long time; not swift; not quick in motion; not rapid; moderate; deliberate; as, a slow stream; a slow motion.

2.

Not happening in a short time; gradual; late. "These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast."

3.

Not ready; not prompt or quick; dilatory; sluggish; as, slow of speech, and slow of tongue. "Fixed on defense, the Trojans are not slow To guard their shore from an expected foe."

4.

Not hasty; not precipitate; acting with deliberation; tardy; inactive. "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding."

5.

Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time; as, the clock or watch is slow.

6.

Not advancing or improving rapidly; as, the slow growth of arts and sciences.

7.

Heavy in wit; not alert, prompt, or spirited; wearisome; dull. (Colloq.) Note: Slow is often used in the formation of compounds for the most part self-explaining; as, slow-gaited, slow-paced, slow-sighted, slow-winged, and the like.

Slow coach, a slow person. See def.7, above. (Colloq.)

Slow lemur, or Slow loris (Zool.), an East Indian nocturnal lemurine animal (Nycticebus tardigradus) about the size of a small cat; so called from its slow and deliberate movements. It has very large round eyes and is without a tail. Called also bashful Billy.

Slow match. See under Match.

Synonyms: Dilatory; late; lingering; tardy; sluggish; dull; inactive. Slow, Tardy, Dilatory. Slow is the wider term, denoting either a want of rapid motion or inertness of intellect. Dilatory signifies a proneness to defer, a habit of delaying the performance of what we know must be done. Tardy denotes the habit of being behind hand; as, tardy in making up one's acounts.

verb

Slow v. t. (past & past part. slowed; pres. part. slowing) To render slow; to slacken the speed of; to retard; to delay; as, to slow a steamer.

Slow v. i. To go slower; often with up; as, the train slowed up before crossing the bridge.

Slow past obs. Slew.

adverb

Slow adv. Slowly. "Let him have time to mark how slow time goes In time of sorrow."

noun

Slow n. A moth. (Obs.)

See images of 'Slow'

Etymology of 'Slow'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Slow" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the chiefs of the country are laid upon biers under which a slow fire is lighted which consumes the flesh, little by little, but leaves the bones and the skin intact. These dried bodies are then piously preserved, as though they were their penates. The Spaniards say that in one district they saw a man being thus dried ...

— De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) - The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera • Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

... part, was not slow to perceive his advantage, and he would willingly have paid his addresses to Mademoiselle de la Motte in person, and won her heart and hand for himself, before speaking to her father on the subject; but as such a proceeding would not have been ...

— The Lost Lady of Lone • E.D.E.N. Southworth

... what the man was saying, in his slow way—"is that I could find words to tell you, if I could remember what it is I have to tell. But when I try to bring it back, my head fails. Tell me again, mademoiselle, about the railway-carriage." Sally ...

— Somehow Good • William de Morgan

... she entreated Jos to go. Not he. He was slow of movement, tied to his Doctor, and perhaps to some other leading-strings. At least Becky was not anxious ...

— Vanity Fair • William Makepeace Thackeray

... subject-matter. Latin scholarship which shall be at the same time broad and accurate, including not only a mastery of the language but also a comprehensive view of the various phases of Roman life and thought, will, it is believed, be best assured by the slow and careful reading of some portions of the literature and by the rapid survey of others. Certainly of the shorter Latin classics few would more fully repay close and careful study of both language and thought than these charming colloquies on Old Age and Friendship. ...

— Cato Maior de Senectute • Marcus Tullius Cicero

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