slur

English

musical notation for a slur (sense 4 and sense 5)

Etymology

From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Also related to dialectal Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels); compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slɜː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

• Audio (UK):

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• Audio (US):

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Noun

slur (plural slurs)

1. A mark, stain, or smear; (by extension) a slight occasion of reproach.
   • 1859 November 26 – 1860 August 25, [William] Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, […], published 1860, →OCLC:

     The undeserved slur which he had cast on my management of the household did not, I am happy to say, prevent me from returning good for evil to the best of my ability, by complying with his request as readily and respectfully as ever.

   • 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Pastoral”, in Memories and Portraits, New York: Charles Scribner, page 99:

     This was a reproach to John, and a slur upon the dog; and both were alive to their misfortune.

2. An insinuation or innuendo.
3. A disparaging insult or slight, particularly one used to denigrate a specific group.

   a racial slur

5. (music) A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
7. (music) The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie).

   Coordinate term: tie

8. (obsolete) A trick or deception.
9. In knitting machines, a device for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them.

Derived terms

• f-slur

Translations

insult or slight

• Bulgarian: оскърбление (bg) n (oskǎrblenie)
• Danish: skældsord (da) n
• Finnish: herja (fi), loukkaus (fi)
• French: insulte (fr) f, injure (fr) f
• German: Verunglimpfung (de) f, Beleidigung (de) f
• Hungarian: sértő/becsmérlő megjegyzés/kifejezés, gyalázkodás, (informal) leszólás
• Japanese: 蔑称 (ja) (べっしょう, besshō), 軽蔑語 (けいべつご, keibetsu-go), 卑罵語 (ひばご, hibago)
• Maori: tīkai
• Polish: oszczerstwo (pl) n, obelga (pl) f
• Portuguese: insulto (pt)
• Russian: клеветни́ческое обвине́ние n (klevetníčeskoje obvinénije), оскорби́тельный намёк m (oskorbítelʹnyj namjók), инсинуа́ция (ru) f (insinuácija)
• Spanish: denigración (es) f, insulto (es) m
• Turkish: hakaret (tr), aşağılama (tr)

set of notes

• Finnish: legato-jakso
• Maori: rōnaki

symbol indicating a legato passage

• Bulgarian: легато (bg) n (legato)
• Dutch: legatoboog
• Finnish: sidekaari, legato-kaari
• French: liaison d’expression f, coulé (fr) m, legato (fr) m
• German: Bindebogen m
• Italian: legatura di portamento f, legatura di frase f, legatura di espressione f
• Portuguese: ligadura f
• Russian: лега́то (ru) n (legáto)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceangal m
• Spanish: legato (es) m, ligadura de expresión f, ligadura (es) f
• Swedish: bindebåge (sv)

Verb

slur (third-person singular simple present slurs, present participle slurring, simple past and past participle slurred)

1. To insult or slight.
   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 6:

     And how men slur him, saying all his force / Is melted into mere effeminacy?

2. To run together; to articulate poorly.

   to slur syllables;  He slurs his speech when he is drunk.

   • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

     Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.

3. (music) To play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly.
   • 1817, Thomas Busby, A Dictionary of Music, Theoretical and Practical

     Notes , the stems of which are joined together by cross lines, as in united quavers , semiquavers , & c . or notes over the heads of which a curve is drawn, to signify that they are to be slurred

4. To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.
   • 1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC:

     they do not only impudently slur the gospel, according to the history and the letter, in making it no better than a romantical legend […]

5. To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.
   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.

6. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.
   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “(please specify the page)”, in Hudibras. The First Part. […], London: […] J. G. for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC:

     to slur men of what they fought for

7. (printing, dated) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.

Derived terms

• slur over

Translations

to insult or slight

• Bulgarian: обиждам (bg) (obiždam)
• Finnish: herjata (fi), loukata (fi)
• French: dénigrer (fr), rabaisser (fr), traiter (fr), dévaloriser (fr)
• Hungarian: leszól (hu), gyaláz (hu)
• Irish: aithisigh
• Italian: denigrare (it)
• Maori: tīkai
• Serbo-Croatian: nipodaštavati (sh)
• Turkish: aşağılamak (tr)

to articulate poorly

• Finnish: sammaltaa (fi), sopertaa
• French: mal articuler
• German: undeutlich reden
• Italian: biascicare (it)
• Japanese: 舌がもつれる (したがもつれる, shita ga motsureru)
• Macedonian: слева (sleva)
• Polish: bełkotać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: arrastar (pt)
• Russian: заплета́ться (ru) (zapletátʹsja), глота́ть (слова) (glotátʹ (slova))
• Serbo-Croatian: razvlačiti (sh), nerazgovetno govoriti, nerazgovjetno govoriti, plesti jezikom
• Spanish: mascullar (es), arrastrar las palabras
• Swedish: sluddra (sv)

to play legato

• Finnish: sitoa (fi)
• French: lier (fr), phraser (fr)
• Macedonian: слева (sleva)

to soil, sully, to contaminate, disgrace

• Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg) (opetnjavam)
• Finnish: tahrata (fi), loata (fi)
• French: dévaloriser (fr)

to cover over, disguise, conceal; to pass over with little notice

• Finnish: peittää (fi), piilottaa (fi), pitää salassa; sujauttaa (to pass over with little notice)
• French: glisser (fr)

to cheat; to trick

• Finnish: huijata (fi), huiputtaa (fi)
• French: dissimuler (fr), filouter (fr)

printing: to blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle

• French: dissimuler (fr), maquiller (fr), flouter (fr)
• Serbo-Croatian: mrljati (sh)

Further reading

• Slur (music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• URLs, lurs