a. Slacked, or pulverized, by exposure to the air; as, air-slacked lime. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blackened p. pr. & vb. n. Blackening. ] [ See Black, a., and cf. Black, v. t. ] 1. To make or render black. [ 1913 Webster ]

While the long funerals blacken all the way. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. “Blackened the whole heavens.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens the character. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To denigrate; defame; vilify; slander; calumniate; traduce; malign; asperse. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To grow black or dark. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who blackens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who clacks; that which clacks; especially, the clapper of a mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A claqueur. See Claqueur. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ OE. flakeren, fr. flacken to move quickly to and fro; cf. icel. flakka to rove about, AS. flacor fluttering, flying, G. flackern to flare, flicker. ] To flutter, as a bird. [ Prov. Eng. ] Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. flasquet little flask, dim. of flasque a flask. ] A barrel-shaped bottle; a flagon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who lacks or is in want. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & v. See Lacquer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Lackeyed p. pr. & vb. n. Lackeying. ] To act or serve as lackey; to pay servile attendance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Lackeys [ F. laquais; cf. Sp. & Pg. lacayo; of uncertain origin; perh. of German origin, and akin to E. lick, v. ] An attending male servant; a footman; a servile follower. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a Christian footboy or a gentleman's lackey. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lackey caterpillar (Zool.), the caterpillar, or larva, of any bombycid moth of the genus Clisiocampa; -- so called from its party-colored markings. The common European species (Clisiocampa neustria) is striped with blue, yellow, and red, with a white line on the back. The American species (Clisiocampa Americana and Clisiocampa sylvatica) are commonly called tent caterpillars. See Tent caterpillar, under Tent. --
Lackey moth (Zool.), the moth which produces the lackey caterpillar. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To attend as a lackey; to wait upon. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thousand liveried angels lackey her. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. plaquer to lay or clap on. See Placard. ] 1. A petticoat, esp. an under petticoat; hence, a cant term for a woman. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The opening or slit left in a petticoat or skirt for convenience in putting it on; -- called also placket hole. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A woman's pocket. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be remiss or backward; to be negligent. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To abate; to become less violent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whence these raging fires
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To languish; to fail; to flag. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That through your death your lineage should slack. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

They will not of that firste purpose slack. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } v. t. 1. To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage. Wycklif (Acts xxvii. 40) [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To neglect; to be remiss in. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Slack not the pressage. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry. “Rancor for to slack.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence
Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to arms. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

In this business of growing rich, poor men should slack their pace. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

With such delay
Well plased, they slack their course. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease. [ 1913 Webster ]

To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain
Of this ill mansion. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Air-slacked lime, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Metal.) A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion. [ Written also slakin. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not slacked; unslaked; as, unslacked lime. [ 1913 Webster ]