Sling Meaning
/ˈslɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo throw with a circular or arcing motion.
verbTo throw with a sling.
Sentence Examples
I'm putting my ass in a sling for you.
A sling psychrometer is used to measure relative humidity.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The father used a soft cloth ____ to carry his baby securely on his back.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He had to wear his injured arm in a ____ for several weeks until the bone had fully healed.
Word Origin & History
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”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"slings a broken rock aloft in air"
— 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:
"The Sling is also a weapon of great antiquity, formerly in high estimation among the ancients."
— 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 43:
"At one sling
Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
"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."
— 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act III, scene I, line 55:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The father used a soft cloth ____ to carry his baby securely on his back.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He had to wear his injured arm in a ____ for several weeks until the bone had fully healed.