sling

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English slynge (noun), slyngen (verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva (“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwaną (“to worm, twist”) or compare Old English slingan (“to wind, twist”), from the same source.

Compare German schlingen (“to swing, wind, twist”), Danish and Norwegian slynge), from Proto-Indo-European *slenk- (“to turn, twist”) (compare Welsh llyngyr (“worms, maggots”), Lithuanian sliñkti (“to crawl like a snake”), Latvian slìkt (“to sink”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪŋ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Verb

sling (third-person singular simple present slings, present participle slinging, simple past and past participle slung or slang)

1. To throw with a circular or arcing motion.
   • 2000, Bible (World English), Judges xx. 16

     Everyone could sling stones at an hairbreadth, and not miss.

   • a. 1720, Joseph Addison, “Milton’s Style Imitated, in a Translation of a Story out of the Third Æneid”, in The Dramatick Works of Joseph Addison. With the Authour’s Poems, on Several Occasions:

     slings a broken rock aloft in air

2. To throw with a sling.
3. (nautical) To pass a rope around (a cask, gun, etc.) preparatory to attaching a hoisting or lowering tackle.
4. (slang) To sell, peddle, or distribute (often illicitly, e.g. drugs, sex, etc.).

   Synonyms: slang, flog, flip

   • 2008, Breaking Bad, Season 1, Episode 6:

     You may know a lot about chemistry, man, but you don't know jack about slinging dope.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. (weapon) An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end and a light stick to the other.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 43:

     The Sling is also a weapon of great antiquity, formerly in high estimation among the ancients.

2. A kind of hanging bandage put around the neck, in which a wounded arm or hand is supported.
3. A loop of cloth, worn around the neck, for supporting a baby or other such load.
4. A loop of rope, or a rope or chain with hooks, for suspending a barrel, bale, or other heavy object, in hoisting or lowering.
5. A strap attached to a firearm, for suspending it from the shoulder.
6. (nautical, chiefly in the plural) A band of rope or iron for securing a yard to a mast.
7. The act or motion of hurling as with a sling; a throw; figuratively, a stroke.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     At one sling
     Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son.

   • 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III, scene I, line 55:

     To be, or not to be, that is the question:
     Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
     The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
     Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
     And by opposing, end them.

8. (climbing) A loop of rope or fabric tape used for various purposes: e.g. as part of a runner, or providing extra protection when abseiling or belaying.
9. A drink composed of a spirit (usually gin) and water sweetened.

   gin sling

   a Singapore sling

Derived terms

Translations

Descendants

• → Spanish: eslinga

Etymology 2

From a shortening of spiderling.

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. A young or infant spider, such as one raised in captivity.

Further reading

• Sling in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -lings, Lings, lings

Middle English

Noun

sling

1. Alternative form of slynge