Word.ws English Dictionary

slab

/slæb/

slab noun: a large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat. Also the ellipsis of slab avalanche.

Noun (1)

slab (plural slabs)

  1. A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
    • There were no windows in the inn. They were not required, since the interstices between the slabs suffered the wind, the rain, and the light of day to penetrate simultaneously.1859, John Lang, Botany Bay, or, True Tales of Early Australia, page 155
    • Then there was the Mexican who sold big slabs of chewing taffy for five cents each. […] And many a day I made my entire lunch off of one of those slabs.1913 August, Jack London, chapter V, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 45
  2. A paving stone; a flagstone.
  3. (Australia) A carton containing 24 cans (chiefly of beer).
    • The Australians murder a few slabs of beer and the New Zealanders murder a few vowels.2001, Les Carlyon, Gallipoli, page 8
    • The older man bought a slab of Coca-Cola at the counter and carried it out ahead of the younger man.2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 88
  4. An outside piece taken from a log or timber when sawing it into boards, planks, etc.
  5. The slack part of a sail.
  6. A very large wave.
    • After being towed into a massive slab, Dorian dropped down the face and caught a rail, putting him in a near-impossible situation.2009, Bruce Boal, The Surfing Yearbook, SurfersVillage, page 31
    • In August 2000 he successfully rode a slab of unfathomable power at Teahupo′o.2011, Douglas Booth, Surfing: The Ultimate Guide, page 95
  7. The amount by which a cache can grow or shrink, used in memory allocation.
  8. Part of a tectonic plate that is being, or has been, subducted.
    • Being driven by the gravitational force, the subducting Pacific slab continues to sink down to the boundary between the upper and lower mantle […]2015, Dapeng Zhao, Multiscale Seismic Tomography, Springer, page 72
  9. A poured-concrete foundation for a building.
    • Next week they'll pour the slab that the shed will sit on.
  10. A region between two parallel lines in the Euclidean plane, or between two parallel planes in three-dimensional Euclidean space, or between two hyperplanes in higher dimensions.
  11. (India, especially) Any of the several portions or tiers in a tax rate plan.
    • Near-synonym: tax bracket
    • The 56th meeting of the GST Council [for the Goods and Services Tax] on September 3, 2025 will be remembered as a defining milestone in India's tax history. These reforms go far beyond tax rates and structures. They represent a decisive shift towards a simpler, fairer, and growth-oriented system...2025 September 5, Chandrajit Banerjee, “GST 2.0 is a landmark in India's tax journey. The simplification of the multiple GST slabs is an example of people's reform”, in The Hindu
    Synonyms:
    tax bracket
  12. A flat, sealed plastic case that encloses a flat collector's item, such as a coin or a trading card.
  13. (US, slang) A large, luxury pre-1980 General Motors vehicle, particularly a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac.
    • Video screens have also become a standard part of slab interiors.2016, Langston Collin Wilkins, “Officially Ridin' Swangas: Slab as tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Houston, Texas”, in Michelle L. Stefano, Peter Davis, editor, The Routledge Companion...
    • After a few loops around the park, some drivers—most of them Black and Latino men in their twenties and thirties driving customized lowriders, bright, candy-colored slabs, and jacked-up trucks with flashy chrome rims—packed into a nearby middle school parking lot.2021 March 23, Peter Holley, “They Just Moved Into an Austin Neighborhood. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions.”, in Texas Monthly

Verb

slab (third-person singular simple present slabs, present participle slabbing, simple past and past participle slabbed)

  1. (transitive) To make into a slab.
  2. (informal, transitive) To destroy (a structure) so completely as to leave only the foundation slab visible.
    • Multiple homes were slabbed by the monster tornado.
    Synonyms:
    raze

Noun (2)

slab (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) Mud, sludge, or other viscous matter.
    • Some do also plant oziers in their eights, like quick-sets, thick, and (near the water) keep them not more than half a foot above ground; but then they must be diligently cleansed from moss, slab, and ouze, and frequently prun'd (especially the smaller spires) to form single shoots;[…].1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal...

Adjective

slab (comparative slabber or more slab, superlative slabbest or most slab)

  1. (archaic) Thick; viscous.
    • Make the gruel thick and slab:c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Noun (3)

slab (plural slabs)

  1. (Southern US, slang) A car that has been modified with equipment such as loudspeakers, lights, special paint, hydraulics, and other accessories.
    • Pull me over, try to check my slab2005, Chamillionaire (featuring Krayzie Bone), "Ridin'", The Sound of Revenge
    • I'mma swang, I'mma swing my slab lean to the left2006, Trae (featuring Pimp C and Big Hawk), "Swang", Restless

Noun (4)

slab (plural slabs)

  1. (British, dialectal, obsolete) A bird, the wryneck.

Noun (5)

slab (plural slabs)

  1. A sequence of 12 adjacent bits, serving as a byte in some computers.

Also used as

slab is also the ellipsis of slab avalanche.

slab meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

slab in Hindi

flat piece of material
सिलाप silāp

slab in Tamil

ஸ்லாப்

slab in Marathi

स्लॅब, स्लॅब करण्यासाठी

slab in Urdu

flat piece of material
سِلاپ silāp
More languagesFewer languages
slab in Bengali
স্ল্যাব, স্লেব, স্ল্যাব করা
slab in Telugu
స్లాబ్, స్లాబ్ చెయ్యడానికి
slab in Malayalam
സ്ലാബ്, സ്ലാബ് ചെയ്യാൻ, സ്ലാബിംഗിലേക്ക്
slab in Kannada
ಸ್ಲ್ಯಾಬ್, ಚಪ್ಪಡಿ
slab in Punjabi
ਸਲੈਬ, ਸਲੈਬ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
slab in Gujarati
સ્લેબ, સ્લૅબ, સ્લેબ કરવા માટે
slab in Odia
ସ୍ଲାବ୍, ସ୍ଲାବ, ସ୍ଲାବ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
slab in Nepali
स्ल्याब, स्लेब, स्ल्याब गर्न
slab in Arabic
بَلَاط balāṭ

Examples of slab in a sentence

  • You mean those few sodden logs tied together and that dingy slab of rough concrete.”2010, Ryan Humphreys, The Flirtations of Dan Harris, page 73:
  • Common 375-ml cans are called tinnies, and can be bought in 24-can slabs for discounted prices.2010, Holly Smith, Perth, Western Australia & the Outback, Hunter Publishing, unnumbered page:
  • A long-standing demand of both industry and consumers has been simplification of the multiple GST slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%).2025 September 5, Chandrajit Banerjee, “GST 2.0 is a landmark in India's tax journey. The simplification of the multiple GST slabs is an...
  • All three of them recognized who the Lexus'^([sic]) belonged to so he parked his slab and they cocked their guns.2012, Bobby Austin, By All Mean$, AuthorHouse, published 2012, →ISBN, page 56:

All 40 example sentences with slab

Synonyms of slab

Forms of slab

Noun
pluralslabs
Verb
third-person singular presentslabs
present participleslabbing
past participleslabbed
pastslabbed
Adjective
comparativeslabber
comparativemore slab
superlativeslabbest
superlativemost slab

Plural of slab: slabs

Origin of slab

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

Compare Scottish Gaelic slàib (“mud”) and Irish slaba (“muddy flat”), and English slop (“puddle”).

Acronym of Slow, Loud And Bangin'. This term been popularized through the southern rap genre of hip-hop, most notably by rappers such as Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Lil' Keke, and others.

Words formed from slab

Phrases with slab

Words that rhyme with slab

17 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about slab

What does slab mean?
Slab means a large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
What is slab in Hindi?
Slab in Hindi is सिलाप (silāp). See Slab meaning in Hindi.
How do you use slab in a sentence?
You mean those few sodden logs tied together and that dingy slab of rough concrete.”
What part of speech is slab?
Slab can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce slab?
Slab is pronounced /slæb/.
What is the plural of slab?
The plural of slab is slabs.

Words near slab in the dictionary

  1. sl*t
  2. sl*ts
  3. sl.
  4. SL4A
  5. SLA
  6. slab
  7. slab avalanche
  8. slab cake
  9. slab cakes
  10. slab cities
  11. slab city

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: slab (page history and authors); slab (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); slab (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-slab.ogg.

Cite this entry: “slab.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/slab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.