slates

Noun

slate (countable and uncountable, plural slates)

1. A piece of such stone, usually cut into a rectangular shape, used as a tile for flooring, roofing, etc.; (uncountable) such tiles collectively, or the material from which they are made.
   • Some of the minor Welsh 2 ft. gauge railways, we hear from Mr. N. F. G. Dalston, are enjoying a miniature boom owing to the demand for slate for the repair of damaged roofs.1941 March, “Notes and News: The Demand for Slate”, in Railway Magazine, page 141
2. A piece of other material used as a roofing tile.
3. (broadly) A generally rectangular piece, originally of certain types of stone and now of other materials, often in a frame, used for writing on with a thin rod of the same or another stone (a slate pencil) or with chalk; a small chalkboard.
   • He wrote all down one side of the slate and all up the other, and then remarked--"As there's no time to finish that, The time has come to have our chat."1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 12
4. (broadly) Synonym of tablet computer (“a hand-held portable computer in the form of a tablet with a touch screen interface”).
   • Hearing Steve Ballmer and others talk about the availability of Windows 8 on slates, laptops, netbooks, notebooks, and screens from 7 to 70 inches might lead us to believe that Microsoft is attempting to gain market share solely through […]2012, Chris Sells, Brandon Satrom, Don Box, Building Windows 8 Apps with JavaScript

   Synonyms:

   tablet computer

5. (broadly) A sequentially numbered session of recording a film.
6. (broadly) Information about a film recording which is inserted at the start of the recording, or printed on a videotape label etc.

See all 31 meanings of slate