slash
v.v. to cut something quickly and violently with a sharp tool. It also means to reduce something, like a price or a budget, by a very large amount.
v. to cut with a sweeping, forceful stroke using a sharp instrument; by extension, to reduce prices or expenditures drastically. Often used in journalistic contexts to describe aggressive budget cuts.
The store decided to slash prices for the summer sale.
The government had to slash the education budget to deal with the sudden economic crisis.
The explorer used a heavy machete to slash through the dense undergrowth, clearing a narrow path for the rest of the team to follow.
Late Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.
Uncertain. Compare Scots slash (“large splash”), possibly from Old French esclache. Slang use for urination attested from the 1950s.
Uncertain. Compare British dialectal slashy (“wet and dirty, miry”) and Scots slash (“act of walking forcefully through water or mud”) and slatch (“wet and muddy place, mire”). Perhaps related to Swedish slask (“slush”). Compare also slash (“clearing in a forest”): in many cases it is difficult to tell whether that sense or this one is meant. (Also compare flash (“a marsh; a pool of water”).)
See slatch
The verb is transitive and requires a direct object.
The prices were slashed down.The prices were slashed.Learners often add 'down' because of the similar phrasal verb 'cut down', but 'slash' already implies a downward reduction.