Home US English slit

Definition of slit in English:

slit

Pronunciation /slit/ /slɪt/

Translate slit into Spanish

noun

  • A long, narrow cut or opening.

    ‘make a slit in the stem under a bud’
    • ‘arrow slits’
    • ‘At this stage, they'll also check your garments for slits, broken buttons or zippers, and any other irregularities.’
    • ‘At the end of the glans is a small slit or opening, which is where semen and urine exit the body through the urethra.’
    • ‘A wrinkled tee shirt with shredded slits of material barely concealed her.’
    • ‘Wrapped skits are featured with fine but simple shirts, strategically-placed slits which are functional rather than flirty.’
    • ‘In the soft light that came from the street lights through the slits of the curtains, she saw destruction.’
    • ‘The sunlight was shining through the slit in his curtains.’
    • ‘The door had royal red curtains and a little slit for a window.’
    • ‘It was a fitting gown with long slits, black in color and had shiny small stones cut into tiny roses embroidered at the hem of the long skirt.’
    • ‘Many ornate stone bridges stretched across the streams, the little light reflecting from them streaming into the narrow slits which served as tiny windows.’
    • ‘Even these narrow slits are set in from the building's exterior so that light actually reflects off of a section of the roof before it shines through the windows.’
    • ‘Macbeth thought for a second, his pupils narrowing to slits.’
    • ‘Stuff each fish with the ground spices (inside the cavity, along the slits etc).’
    • ‘Vents, the slits on the back of the jacket, are meant for ease of movement.’
    • ‘Only two narrow slits in the wall allowed in the light from beyond the room.’
    • ‘Use screens rather than walls, with narrow slits between the fabric and the poles.’
    • ‘They passed the light from these sources through a spectrometer (a device containing a narrow slit and a glass prism).’
    • ‘Views into the galleries from the circulation system vary as the stair-ramp zigzags upward through a narrow slit at the back of the building.’
    • ‘In 2002 a team succeeded in restricting the spreading of light emitted from a narrow slit in a metal film.’
    • ‘At this point, narrowing the slit further no longer improves resolution but does cut down the amount of light.’
    • ‘When you detect a hole in a corn stalk and perhaps some sawdust outside, cut a slit below the hole and dig out the worm.’
    cut, incision, split, slash, gash, laceration
    opening, gap, chink, space, crack, cranny, aperture, slot
    View synonyms

transitive verbslits, slitting

[with object]

  • 1Make a long, narrow cut in (something)

    ‘give me the truth or I will slit your throat’
    • ‘he slit open the envelope’
    • ‘Kari slit open the envelope as she trotted up the stairs.’
    • ‘Aiur eyed him, but she slit open the envelope and pulled out a thin sheet of paper.’
    • ‘He held a knife, which shook between leather-gloved fingers, as he slit open the front of the dress.’
    • ‘From his belly button, to the bottom of his throat, I slit him up.’
    • ‘Astrakhan farmers, cut the throats of pregnant sheep, slit open their wombs and pull out the soon-to-be born living lamb.’
    • ‘Her name was printed dually on the front of the envelope and she slit it open.’
    • ‘It was as if a leathery membrane had slit open and out popped a deluge of technical knowledge I'd really honestly quite forgotten.’
    • ‘As his observers craned to watch, John slit open the dog's belly.’
    • ‘She then slit open the seal, had me hold my palm up and applied a line of lipstick on my hand.’
    • ‘Melinda sat in the hard plastic chair opposite of him, with a long square nail slitting open her perfect little brown paper bag containing her lunch, she never ate cafeteria food, never.’
    • ‘The complicated procedure takes place over several days and involves slitting open the belly and removing the insides, as well as washing and boiling the animal several times.’
    • ‘Eagerly I slit open the carton, greedily I inspect all my new treasures and line them up on the sunroom floor to see what all arrived.’
    • ‘She slit open a packet of sauce from the supermarket.’
    • ‘I slit open the rubber coating of the wires, and slid them back, revealing the copper innards.’
    • ‘I carried it into the house with me and stared at it for what seemed like forever before working up the nerve to slit open the top.’
    • ‘Two shopkeepers who saw the attack said the two soldiers killed had their throats slit after being ambushed in traffic.’
    • ‘First of all, the lambs had all had their throats slit in the night.’
    • ‘Both victims had been stabbed and severely beaten - their throats slit from ear to ear.’
    • ‘My throat feels like it's being slit by a thousand daggers, my chest is convulsing violently with the coughs and my eyes are clouded by lack of sleep.’
    • ‘Galanthous had slit both of my brothers' throats, and we couldn't get there in time.’
    cut, slash, split open, slice open, gash, lacerate, make an incision in
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1Cut (something) into strips.
      ‘a wide recording head magnetizes the tape before it is slit to domestic size’
      • ‘When a guard takes out a knife and slits the plastic of one, a light-green herb spurts out.’
      • ‘With a sharp knife, slit the skin and its underlying layer along the length of each section.’
      • ‘Juki's sword slashed his robe, slitting the middle.’
      • ‘Work carefully to avoid slitting the screen and tearing it.’
      • ‘Joe used his pocket knife to slit the pants leg up to the knee.’
      • ‘When John turned around to see what was going on, he slashed him and slit a cut into his shirt.’
      • ‘Remove the scales from the sardines with the back of a knife, slit each fish along the belly and scrape out the innards.’
      • ‘Removing the larvae by hand by slitting the stem and digging out the grubs with a knife is labor-intensive, but effective.’
      • ‘Corbin pulled a pocket knife from his jeans and slit an opening in the bag.’
      • ‘After the first hour, the skin of the hock will have softened, allowing you to slit it with a sharp knife, which will release the flavour of the meat.’
      • ‘With your right thumbnail and your index, you slit a tiny opening in the skin of the fava bean where the depression is.’
      • ‘Not even bothering with the numerous buckles, Neva pulled a knife from her pocket and began slitting the leather bindings holding Roy to the gurney.’
      • ‘One of the nets thrown actually wrapped itself about the thief but without even pausing in his roll, he slit the net with a knife and was free.’
      • ‘Rolin carefully slit the tape holding it together with her army knife and opened it.’
      • ‘Peel the skins from the sausages - this is easiest if you slit the skin with the point of a knife then pull off the skins.’
    2. 1.2Form (one's eyes) into slits; squint.
      ‘His tiny eyes were slitted, as he squinted at Adam in the dark.’
      • ‘Mai stirred and slitted an eye at him, ‘Why not trot on over and have a look then? ‘she asked.’’
      • ‘If he was confused at my flippancy, he didn't show it, and I was a little disappointed when he merely crossed his arms and slitted his eyes in amusement.’
      • ‘Jack slitted an eye to look at me, just as surprised as I was.’
      • ‘I slitted an eye to glance at it and then closed that eye again.’
      • ‘She slitted her eyes and smiled at the snoring Colton on the floor.’
      • ‘The security guard came up and Jack either heard him or sensed him, but he slitted his eyes and glared at the uniformed man.’
      • ‘She pulled the cigarette from her mouth and slitted her eyes before throwing it on the floor.’
      • ‘Hilary stopped and slitted her eyes at me like a cat ready to pounce on its prey.’
      • ‘He slitted his eyes in thought, took out his keys and found the key to the door on his key ring.’
      • ‘Simon took another drag and theatrically slitted his eyes as he opened his mouth slightly so the smoke seeped out in tendrils.’
      • ‘I slitted my eyes open to look at Tirza, who was standing stiffly with her hands fisted at her sides, her face closed of expression though I could sense her quivering in some unnamed emotion.’
      • ‘She slitted one eye open and threw him one of her famous looks.’
      • ‘Her eyes slitted, but she bore it with restraint.’
      • ‘His eyes slitted at the commander who was now laughing hysterically.’
      • ‘The small black pupils of his eyes grew smaller in anger as his eyes slitted.’
      • ‘She answered innocently enough but Devin's eyes just slitted suspiciously at her.’
      • ‘Teigue was about to repeat the motion, when one of Marin's eyes slitted open sleepily.’

Origin

Late Old English slite (noun); related to Old English slītan ‘split, rend’ (of Germanic origin).