Slate

Slate, slāt, n. a highly metamorphosed argillaceous rock, fine-grained and fissile, and of a dull blue, gray, purple, or green colour—used in thin slabs of small size for ordinary roofs, and in larger slabs for dairy-fittings, wash-tubs, cisterns, tables, &c., and when polished for writing-slates and 'black-boards:' a piece of slate for roofing, or for writing upon: a preliminary list of candidates before a caucus.—adj. bluish-gray, slate-coloured.—v.t. to cover with slate: to enter on a slate.—ns. Slate′-axe, a slater's tool, a sax; Slate′-clay, a fissile shale.—adjs. Slā′ted, covered with slates; Slate′-gray, of a light slate colour.—ns. Slate′-pen′cil, a cut or turned stick of soft slate, or of compressed moistened slate-powder, for writing on slate; Slā′ter; Slā′tiness, the quality of being slaty; Slā′ting, the act of covering with slates: a covering of slates: materials for slating.—adj. Slā′ty, resembling slate: having the nature or properties of slate. [O. Fr. esclat—Old High Ger. slīzan, Ger. schleissen, to split.]