different between sling vs pling

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English slynge (noun), slyngen (verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva (“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwan? (“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”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

sling (third-person singular simple present slings, present participle slinging, simple past and past participle slung or slang)

1. To throw with a circular or arcing motion.
   • 2000, Bible (World English), Judges xx. 16

     Everyone could sling stones at an hairbreadth, and not miss.
2. To throw with a sling.
3. (nautical) To pass a rope around (a cask, gun, etc.) preparatory to attaching a hoisting or lowering tackle.
4. (slang) To sell, peddle, or distribute illicitly (e.g. drugs, sex, etc.).
   • 2008, Breaking Bad, Season 1, Episode 6:

     You may know a lot about chemistry man but you don't know jack about slinging dope.

Derived terms

• undersling

Translations

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. (weapon) An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end and a light stick to the other.
2. A kind of hanging bandage put around the neck, in which a wounded arm or hand is supported.
3. A loop of cloth, worn around the neck, for supporting a baby or other such load.
4. A loop of rope, or a rope or chain with hooks, for suspending a barrel, bale, or other heavy object, in hoisting or lowering.
5. A strap attached to a firearm, for suspending it from the shoulder.
6. (nautical, chiefly in the plural) A band of rope or iron for securing a yard to a mast.
7. The act or motion of hurling as with a sling; a throw; figuratively, a stroke.
8. (climbing) A loop of rope or fabric tape used for various purposes: e.g. as part of a runner, or providing extra protection when abseiling or belaying.
9. A drink composed of a spirit (usually gin) and water sweetened.

   gin sling

   a Singapore sling

Derived terms

• ass in a sling
• gin sling
• Singapore sling
• slingshot
• slingstone
• staff sling

Translations

Etymology 2

From a shortening of spiderling.

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. A young or infant spider, such as one raised in captivity.

Further reading

• Sling in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -lings, Lings, lings

Middle English

Noun

sling

1. Alternative form of slynge

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

pling (plural plings)

1. (computing, dated) The symbol ! (an exclamation mark).
   • 1989, "John Littler, John Maher", Computers in the laboratory: a student guide to microprocessor interfacing

     This illustrates the order in which bytes are poked into memory with the pling operator.

   • 1994, "C.P. Brown", HAhAhA (on Internet newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.advocacy)

     IMO, prefixing a directory name with a pling so that a program within it is run when you double click on it is a rather untidy way to do things.

   • 1994, Stewart Palmer, Mark Moir, Developing CD-ROM products for Acorn machines

     Make sure that you consider ISO 9660 restrictions on the use of characters in disc, directory and file names. Only upper case alpha and numeric characters plus the underscore (_) and pling (!) can be used as legal characters.

   • 1996, "Tim Wiser", Pling thing revisited (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.apps)

     Acorn Computing used to be big offenders when it came to referring to applications by their pling-inclusive names. They loved it. Unfortunately it made their articles sound silly (for want of a better adjective).

Usage notes

• Associated with Acorn Computers, e.g. used in the 1980 manual for the Acorn Atom, Atomic Theory and Practice by David Johnson-Davies.

West Flemish

Noun

pling n (plural plings)

1. sports field
2. square