Verb

(en verb)

To gradually decrease in intensity or tautness; to become slack.

The pace slackened .

* 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,

During this interlude, Warwick, though he had slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro intonation:...

* 1908 ,

He seemed tired, and the Rat let him rest unquestioned, understanding something of what was in his thoughts; knowing, too, the value all animals attach at times to mere silent companionship, when the weary muscles slacken and the mind marks time.

To make slack, less taut, or less intense.

* 1986 , Mari Sandoz, The Horsecatcher?

Elk slackened the rope so he could walk farther away, and together they went awkwardly up the trail toward the grassy little flat...

To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake.

to slack lime

Verb

(head)

* {{quote-book, year=1914, author=Charles Warren Stoddard, title=Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=I was glad when we were very politely invited to get out of the train and walk a plank over a puddle that for a moment submerged the track; glad when we were advised to foot it over a trestle-bridge that sagged in the swift current of a swollen stream; and gladder still when our locomotive began to puff and blow and slaken its pace as we climbed up into the mouth of a ravine fragrant with the warm scents of summer--albeit we could boast but a solitary brace of cars, and these small ones, and not overcrowded at that. }}

* {{quote-book, year=1901, author=Charles Kingsley, title=Two Years Ago, Volume I, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=And so she swept in, with her arm round Lucia's waist; while Elsley stood looking after her, well enough satisfied with her reception of him, and only hoping that the stream of words would slaken after a while. " }}