slot
n. countablen. a narrow opening for something to fit into, or a specific time in a schedule. You might put a coin in a slot or book a time slot for a meeting.
n. a narrow aperture or groove for receiving something; also, an assigned position within a sequence, schedule, or hierarchy.
Please drop the coin into the slot.
The doctor has one available time slot left at three o'clock this afternoon.
The marketing team secured a prime advertising slot during the championship game to ensure maximum visibility for their new product launch.
From Middle English slot, from Old French esclot, likely from Old Norse slóð (“track”). As a gambling machine, via clipping of slot machine. Compare sleuth. The scheduling (calendar) sense is by a metaphor whereby the time span is equated with the segment of a page or part of a device that represents it.
From Middle English slot, from Middle Low German slot or Middle Dutch slot, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic slot, from Proto-Germanic slutą, related to the verb *sleutaną (“to lock”). Cognate with Dutch slot, German Schloss (“door-bolt”). The verb is probably from Middle Dutch sluten (“to close, to lock”) (Modern Dutch sluiten (“to close”)).
Often used in the compound 'time slot' when referring to schedules.