slur

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English

musical notation for a slur (senses 2 and 3)

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):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

slur (plural slurs)

  1. An insult or slight, particularly one used to denigrate a specific group.
    a racial slur
  2. (music) A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
  3. (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
  4. (obsolete) A trick or deception.
  5. In knitting machines, a device for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. To insult or slight.
  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.
    • Template:RQ:Cudworth True
      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.
  6. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.
  7. (printing, dated) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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