What does "slow" mean?
Slow: Moving a short space in a relatively long time; not swift; not quick in motion; not rapid; moderate; deliberate; as, a slow stream; a slow motion.
Additional senses
- 2.Not happening in a short time; gradual; late. These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast. Milton.
- 3.Not ready; not prompt or quick; dilatory; sluggish; as, slow of speech, and slow of tongue. Fixed on defense, the Trojans are not slow To guard their shore from an expected foe. Dryden.
- 4.Not hasty; not precipitate; acting with deliberation; tardy; inactive. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. Prov. xiv.
- 5.5. Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time; as, the clock or watch is slow.
- 6.Not advancing or improving rapidly; as, the slow growth of arts and sciences.
- 7.Heavy in wit; not alert, prompt, or spirited; wearisome; dull. [Colloq.] Dickens. Thackeray. Note: Slow is often used in the formation of compounds for the most part self-explaining; as, slow-gaited, slow-paced, slow-sighted, slow-winged, and the like. Slow coach, a slow person. See def.7, above. [Colloq.] -- Slow lemur, or Slow loris (Zoöl.), an East Indian nocturnal lemurine animal (Nycticebus tardigradus) about the size of a small cat; -- so called from its slow and deliberate movements. It has very large round eyes and is without a tail. Called also bashful Billy. -- Slow match. See under Match. -- Slow, Tardy, Dilatory. Slow is the wider term, denoting either a want of rapid motion or inertness of intellect. Dilatory signifies a proneness to defer, a habit of delaying the performance of what we know must be done. Tardy denotes the habit of being behind hand; as, tardy in making up one's acounts.
- 8.Slowly. Let him have time to mark how slow time goes In time of sorrow. Shak.
- 9.To render slow; to slacken the speed of; to retard; to delay; as, to slow a steamer. Shak.
- 10.To go slower; -- often with up; as, the train slowed up before crossing the bridge.
- 11.A moth. [Obs.] Rom. of R.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17 · Modified: 2026-07-17