Literary notes about Slack (AI summary)
The word "slack" appears across literature with a range of nuanced meanings, from denoting a lack of activity or tension to characterizing a state of laziness or neglect. In some works, it is used to describe a downturn or stagnation in commerce and industry—as when business is described as getting slack [1] or during a slack season when trade slows [2]. In other texts, "slack" conveys physical looseness, whether referring to the slack harness on a horse [3], a slack rope that falls to a certain level [4], or even the slack water during a tidal lull [5]. Beyond physical descriptions, the term is also employed metaphorically to critique carelessness or indolence in duty and work [6] [7], and it sometimes even serves as a personal epithet or surname that underscores character traits [8]. Thus, its rich versatility allows diverse authors to evoke both literal and figurative senses of looseness and inactivity.
- “I am told,” said the grey-headed gentleman, “that business is getting slack in all the districts.”
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Earl of Beaconsfield Benjamin Disraeli - Jurgis had only about sixty dollars in the bank, and the slack season was upon them.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - The horses he passed started nervously under their slack harness.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees.
— from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce - It’s ebb at half-arter three, slack water half an hour.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - "King Agamemnon," said he, "let us not stay talking here, nor be slack in the work that heaven has put into our hands.
— from The Iliad by Homer - And at the time of rising be not slack: but be first to run home to thy house, and there withdraw thyself, and there take thy pastime.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Then John Slack, the rich druggist, wooed me, Luring me with the promise of leisure for my novel,
— from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
