slut

From Middle English slutt, slutte, slute (“a dirty or slovenly person, usually a woman, scullery maid; messy animal to prepare as food; slush, mud”), probably from Old English *slȳte (“sleet”), from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet, hail”), related to Proto-West Germanic *slaut (“puddle, ditch”). Compare Dutch slodder and slet, dialectal Swedish slata (“idle woman”), Norwegian sludd (“sleet”), and the dialectal Norwegian slutr (“sleet, impure liquid”). Doublet of sleet. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• IPA^(key): /slʌt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌt
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /slʊt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɫɐt/

slut (plural sluts)

1. (vulgar, often derogatory) A sexually promiscuous woman.

   dirty slut    total slut

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:

     Some cry out against sin even as the mother cries out against her child in her lap, when she calleth it slut and naughty girl, and then falls to hugging and kissing it.

   1. (vulgar, by extension) A prostitute.

      You could hire a slut for a few hours, if you're that desperate.

2. (vulgar, often derogatory) Any sexually promiscuous person, often a gay man.
   • 2005, Adam & Steve:

     Before he met you, he was such a whore. No, I'm sorry! Whores get paid. He was a slut.

3. (figurative, vulgar, often derogatory) Someone who seeks attention through inappropriate means or to an excessive degree.

   a press slut

   • 2004 February 12, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic‎^[1]:

     Dude: Since when did you become a political whore?
     Phil: I prefer the term political slut, thank you very much!

4. (vulgar, figuratively, often derogatory) A disloyal individual; someone who does not commit to a particular thing.

   That guy was a job slut; he changed jobs way too often and quickly, to the point that employers will no longer hire him.

5. (archaic, derogatory) A slovenly, untidy person, usually a woman.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Clo. Truly, and to cast away honestie vppon a foule slut, were to put good meate into an vncleane dish. / Aud. I am not a slut, though I thanke the Goddes I am foule.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Where fires thou find’st unrak’d, and hearths unswept, / There pinch the Maids as blew as Bill-berry, / Our radiant Queene, hates Sluts, and Sluttery.

   • 1685, John Dryden, Slyvae: or, the Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, "Lucretius: The Fourth Book. Concerning the Nature of Love,: lines 142-46:

     The doat on Dowdyes, and Deformity:

     E'en what they cannot praise, they will not blame,

     But veil with some extenuating name:

     The Sallow Skin is for the Swarthy put,

     And love can make a Slattern of a Slut …

6. (obsolete, derogatory) A bold, outspoken woman.
   • 1728, [John] Gay, The Beggar’s Opera. […], London: […] John Watts, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Our Polly is a sad Slut! nor heeds what we have taught her.

   • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which Mr. Dangerfield Visits the Church of Chapelizod, and Zekiel Irons Goes A-fishing”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 203:

     To hear her rant, one would have supposed, who had not seen him, that her lank-haired, grimly partner was the prettiest youth in the county of Dublin, and that all the comely lasses in Chapelizod and the country round were sighing and setting caps at him; and Devereux, who had a vein of satire, and loved even farce, enjoyed the heroics of the fat old slut.

   • 1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act V, page 190:

     You damned impudent slut, you! But it's better than snivelling; better than fetching slippers and finding spectacles, isnt it? [Rising] By George, Eliza, I said I'd make a woman of you; and I have. I like you like this.

7. (obsolete) A female dog.
   • 1852, Susanna Moodie, Roughing it in the Bush‎^[2]:

     ‘Bête!’ returned the angry Frenchman, bestowing a savage kick on one of the unoffending pups which was frisking about his feet. The pup yelped; the slut barked and leaped furiously at the offender, and was only kept from biting him by Sam, who could scarcely hold her back for laughing; the captain was uproarious; the offended Frenchman alone maintained a severe and dignified aspect.

   • 1905, Banjo Paterson, Old Bush Songs, page 42:

     He sent me to an old bark hut, / Inhabited by a greyhound slut, / Who put her fangs through my poor fut, / And, snarling, off she ran.

8. (obsolete) A maidservant.
   • 1661–1669 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “(please specify the entry date)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:

     Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better.

9. (obsolete) A rag soaked in a flammable substance and lit for illumination.

• (sexually promiscuous woman): See also Thesaurus:promiscuous woman.
• (prostitute): See also Thesaurus:prostitute.
• (untidy person): See also Thesaurus:untidy person.

• slattern

slut (third-person singular simple present sluts, present participle slutting, simple past and past participle slutted)

1. (vulgar) To wear slutty clothing or makeup, or otherwise behave in a slutty manner.
   • 2009, Shauna Cross, Whip It, →ISBN:

     In an effort to avoid any spontaneous slutting out, I give myself a stern look in the mirror. "You can make out with him, but that's it," I tell my boy-crazed reflection.

2. (slang, vulgar, usually with around) To visit places frequented by men, with the intention of engaging in sexual intercourse by means of flirting.
   • 1998, David Baldacci, The Winner:

     Shirley, you slut around here again, and I swear to God I'll break your neck.

   • 2001 January, Dan Savage, “Sluts Like Us”, in Out, volume 9, number 7, page 37:

     The radicals are reluctant to admit that slutting around is a phase that most gay men go through, but not a permanent — what's that phrase? Oh, yes — "lifestyle choice."

• (behave in a slutty manner): See Thesaurus:harlotize
• (visit places frequented by men): cruise, troll

• bitch

• LUTs, UTSL, lust, ults

• IPA^(key): [ˈslut]

slut

1. masculine singular passive participle of slout

• IPA^(key): /slut/, [sl̥ud̥]

From Swedish slut, from Middle Low German slūt.

slut

1. over
2. finished

slut

1. (radio communications) over and out, out (ending a conversation)

slut (uncountable)

1. end

• “slut,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

slut

1. imperative of slutte

Related to Proto-West Germanic *sleutan (“to bolt, lock”). Compare Middle High German sluz. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

slūt m or n

1. end; conclusion

• → Norwegian Nynorsk: slutt; (dialectal) slút
• → Swedish: slut
  • → Danish: slut
    • Norwegian Bokmål: slutt

• "slūt" in Köbler, Gerhard, Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd edition 2014)
• "sluz" in Köbler, Gerhard, Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd edition 2014)

slut n (definite singular slutet, uncountable)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by sludd

slut n (definite singular slutet, uncountable)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of sludd

Borrowed from Ukrainian слутий (slutyj).

• IPA^(key): /slut/

slut m or n (feminine singular slută, masculine plural sluți, feminine and neuter plural slute)

1. crippled
2. ugly

• urât

• frumos

slut (Cyrillic spelling слут)

1. masculine singular passive past participle of sluti

From Middle Low German slūt.

• IPA^(key): /slʉːt/

• Audio; “ett slut”:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʉːt

slut (only as predicative, not comparable)

1. over, finished; which has come to an end

   Deras förhållande är slut.

   Their relationship is over.

2. gone, no more; of which the last has been taken

   Kakorna är slut.

   There are no more cookies.

3. exhausted; very tired

• ta slut
• sluta

slut n

1. end

   Jag tyckte om slutet av boken.

   I liked the end of the book.

• avslut
• beslut
• slutligen
• slutstation
• till slut

• → Danish: slut
  • Norwegian Bokmål: slutt

slut

1. imperative of sluta

• slut in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• lust, luts

From Middle English slutte (“sloven, slut”), of unknown origin.

• IPA^(key): /slʊt/

slut

1. sloven

   Synonym: slouveen

   • 1867, “JAMEEN QOUGEELY EE-PEALTHE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 110, lines 5-6:

     If ich hadh Peeougheen a Buch, Meyleare a Slut, Peedher Ghiel-laaune, an Jackeen Bugaaune,

     If I had Hugh the Buck, Meyler the Sloven, Peter the Smart Man, and John Boggan,

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 68