Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of slot

slot(n.1)

late 14c., "hollow at the base of the throat above the breastbone," from Old French esclot "hoofprint of a deer or horse," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old Norse sloð "trail" (see sleuth). The anatomical sense is found in romances and in reference to wounds or blows; it is now rare or obsolete. The sense development is obscure, perhaps "from the resemblance of the jugular notch of the sternum to a hoof print" [Middle English Compendium]

The meaning "narrow opening into which something else can be fitted" is by 1520s. The sense of "opening in a machine for a coin to be inserted" is from 1887 (slot machine, one operated by inserting a coin in a slot, is attested by 1888).

The sense of "position in a list, place in a timetable" is attested from 1942. The meaning "middle of the (semi-circular) copy desk at a newspaper," the spot occupied by the chief sub-editor, is recorded from 1917. Slot car is attested by 1966, in reference to the slot in which the miniature car runs.

also from late 14c.

slot(n.2)

"bar or bolt used to fasten a shut door, closed window, etc.," early 14c., from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German slot , fr5om Proto-Germanic *slutila- (source also of Old Norse slot, Old High German sluzzil, sloz, German Schloss "bolt, bar, lock, castle;" Old Frisian sletel, Old Saxon slutil "key," Dutch slot "a bolt, lock, castle").

This is from Proto-Germanic *slut- "to close" (source also of Old Frisian sluta, Dutch sluiten, Old High German sliozan, German schliessen "to shut, close, bolt, lock"), thought to be from PIE root *klau- "hook," also "peg, nail, pin," all those things having been used as locks or bolts in primitive structures.

also from early 14c.

slot(v.1)

1747, "provide with a slot, cut slots in," from slot (n.1). The meaning "drop a coin in a slot" is from 1888. The figurative sense of "take a position in a particular slot" is from 1940; that of "designate, appoint, fit (something) into a slot" is from 1966. The earliest sense in English is obsolete: "stab in the base of the throat" (c. 1400). Related: Slotted; slotting.

also from 1747

slot(v.2)

1560s, "to bolt a door," from slot (n.2). Related: Slotted; slotting.

also from 1560s

Entries linking to slot

sleuth(n.)

late 12c., sloth, "track or trail of a person or beast," from Old Norse sloð "trail or track," as of a person in snow, a word of uncertain origin.

The meaning "detective" (1872) likely is ultimately a shortening of sleuth-hound "keen investigator" (by 1846). This is a figurative use of that word, which is attested from late 14c. in its original sense of "bloodhound," noted early 19c. as a Scotticism. The extension to police detectives would be from the notion of a relentless pursuer.

Sleuth alone as a name for "a detective" is attested from 1872 in sensational New York magazine stories featuring or credited to "Old Sleuth" the detective. (Sleuth also was the pseudonym of a Brooklyn newspaper correspondent active earlier in 1872.)

A "Richard Sleuth" is the main character in a sensational novel serialized in England in 1865 and published in 1866 as "Bound to the Wheel," by John Saunders. Richard Sleuth is not a detective but a relentless immoral schemer "physically a coward but intellectually cool, who pursues base ends by base means" according to a contemporary reviewer. Perhaps the character-name is based on sleuth-hound. The U.S. journalistic use six years later might be aware of Saunders's novel.

The series of U.S. crime-thriller stories and cheap novels continued popular through the 1880s and '90s, and the use of sleuth for “detective” in titles was a subject of a lawsuit among publishers. Compare hawkshaw, Sherlock, shamus.

anschluss(n.)

1924 as a German word in English, from German Anschluß, "connection; addition; junction," literally "joining, union," from anschließen "to join, annex," from an "at, to, toward" (from Old High German ana- "on;" see on) + schließen "to shut, close, lock, bolt; contract" (a marriage); see slot (n.2). Specifically the Pan-Germanic proposal to unite Germany and Austria, accomplished in 1938.