slash

Universal Words verb, noun verb [VN] 1 to make a long cut with a sharp object, especially in a violent way: Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. * She tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists. * We had to slash our way through the undergrowth with sticks. 2 [oftenpassive] (often used in newspapers) to reduce sth by a large amount: to slash costs / prices / fares * The workforce has been slashed by half. PHRASALVERBS slash at sb/sth (with sth) to attack sb violently with a knife, etc. noun 1 [C] a sharp movement made with a knife, etc. in order to cut sb/sth 2 [C] a long narrow wound or cut: a slash across his right cheek * (figurative) Her mouth was a slash of red lipstick. 3 [C] (BrE also oblique) the symbol (/) used to show ALTERNATIVES, as in lunch and/or dinner and 4/5 people and to write FRACTIONS, as in 3/4 seealsoBACKSLASH 4 (a slash) [sing.] (BrE, slang) an act of URINATING: He's just nipped out to have a slash.