From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishslashslash1 /slæʃ/ ●●○ verb 1 [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition]CUT to cut or try to cut something violently with a knife, sword etc Someone had slashed the tires.slash at/through The leopard’s claws slashed through the soft flesh.► see thesaurus at cut2 [transitive]REDUCE to greatly reduce an amount, price etc – used especially in newspapers and advertising SYN cut The workforce has been slashed by 50%.► see thesaurus at reduce3 → slash your wrists→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
slash• And aerobically fit skaters slash and glide along groomed tracks.• Mr Jackson said Cardow had been injured and later his face had been slashed by friends of the dead man.• Come to our Summer Sale, where prices have been slashed by up to 75%.• His plans to slash defence budgets by £6 billion would cost 100,000 more their jobs.• Final Sale. All prices slashed. Everything must go!• British Airways have slashed fares by over 50%.• She slashed her wrists with a razor blade.• Last December, he took a drugs overdose and in September slashed his wrists and groin with a smuggled razor blade.• Rather than betray the others, Stockdale broke a window and slashed his wrists with a jagged shard of glass.• Public spending has been slashed over the past two years.• American car manufacturers have started slashing prices in an effort to stimulate sales.• Congress has slashed the budget for programs to help poor families.• Someone had slashed the car's tires.• Sony has slashed the price of its new CD player, the D50.• Someone had slashed the tyres on Bayle's car.• As irrational as it sounds, many companies hire new workers and then turn around and slash their payrolls.• The painting had been slashed with a knife.slash at/through• He slashed at Alexei, talons out, but Alexei had anticipated the move.• A swarthy fellow with ringlets was taking a slash at her with a heavy cutlass.• She imagined that slash through herself.• Marlowe grabbed Frizer s dagger, slashing at him wildly about the head.• He slashed at his opponent's head, wearing him down.• BFreeman wants to slash at least $ 400 million from an annual budget of $ 2. 4 billion.• The leopard's claws slashed through soft flesh.• In the half-light I am awe-struck by the steel-grey slash through the dark landscape a few kilometres away.• Religious extremists broke through police lines to slash at the pro-reform protesters with broken bottles and clubs.slashslash2 ●●○ noun [countable] 1 PMWa quick movement that you make with a knife, sword etc in order to cut someone or something2 (also slash mark)SLA a line (/) used in writing to separate words, numbers, or letters3 CUTa long narrow cut in something → gash Cut several slashes across the top of the loaf before baking.4 → have/take a slashExamples from the Corpus
slash• Many of these cards were marked with a slash to show the killings had been carried out.• Every instinct tells us to run for cover: to withhold information, slash jobs and cut investment.• Down the front of it there was a long slash.• There was a vertical slash in the canvas.From Longman Business Dictionaryslashslash /slæʃ/ verb [transitive] journalism to greatly reduce an amount, price etcOver the last year the workforce has been slashed by 50%.At least $400 million may be slashed from an annual budget of $2.4 billion.→ See Verb tableOrigin slash1 (1500-1600) Probably from Old French eslachier “to break” 