4. Not violent, rapid, or pressing; slow; moderate; easy; as, business
is slack. "With slack pace." Chaucer.
C&?;sar . . . about sunset, hoisting sail with a slack southwest,
at midnight was becalmed.
Milton.
Slack in stays (Naut.), slow in going about, as a ship. -- Slack water,
the time when the tide runs slowly, or the water is at rest; or the
interval between the flux and reflux of the tide. -- Slack-water
navigation, navigation in a stream the depth of which has been
increased, and the current diminished, by a dam or dams.
Syn. -- Loose; relaxed; weak; remiss; backward; abated; diminished;
inactive; slow; tardy; dull.
Slack (?), adv. Slackly; as, slack dried hops.
Slack, n. The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon
it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.
{ Slack (?), Slack"en (?), } v. i. [imp. & p. p. Slacked (?), Slackened
(&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Slacking, Slackening.] [See Slack, a.] 1. To
become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in
tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather.