different between slit vs hollow

English

Etymology

From Old English sl?tan, from Proto-Germanic *sl?tan? (“to tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyd- (“to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart”). Possibly cognate with Latin laed- (“to strike, hurt, injure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

slit (plural slits)

1. A narrow cut or opening; a slot.
2. (vulgar, slang) The opening of the vagina.
3. (vulgar, slang, derogatory) A woman, usually a sexually loose woman; a prostitute.

Derived terms

• slit drum

Translations

Verb

slit (third-person singular simple present slits, present participle slitting, simple past slit, past participle slit or (obsolete) slitten)

1. To cut a narrow opening.

   He slit the bag open and the rice began pouring out.

2. To split into strips by lengthwise cuts.
3. (transitive) To cut; to sever; to divide.

Translations

Adjective

slit (not comparable)

1. Having a cut narrow opening

Anagrams

• &lits, List, list, lits, silt, tils

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse *slit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stl??t/
• Rhymes: -??t

Noun

slit n (genitive singular slits, no plural)

1. wear and tear

Declension

Anagrams

• list

See also

• slitna

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

slit

1. imperative of slite

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

slit

1. inflection of slita:
   1. present
   2. imperative

Swedish

Noun

slit n

1. toil, labour

Declension

Verb

slit

1. imperative of slita.

Anagrams

• list, lits, stil

Westrobothnian

Etymology

From Old Norse slíta, from Proto-Germanic *sl?tan?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sli?t/, /²?li?t/ (example of pronunciation)

  Rhymes: -ì?t

Verb

slit (preterite släit, supine sliti or slittä)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To tear.

Related terms

• slet

English

Alternative forms

• hallow
• holler (nonstandard: dialectal, especially Southern US)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?l.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?.lo?/
  • (Southern American English, Appalachia) IPA^(key): /h?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l??

Etymology 1

From Middle English holow, holowe, holwe, holw?, holgh, from Old English holh (“a hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *halhwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *?el?wos. Cognate with Old High German huliwa and hulwa, Middle High German hülwe. Perhaps related to hole.

Noun

hollow (plural hollows)

1. A small valley between mountains.
   • c. 1710–20, Matthew Prior, The First Hymn Of Callimachus: To Jupiter

     Forests grew upon the barren hollows.
2. A sunken area or unfilled space in something solid; a cavity, natural or artificial.

3. (figuratively) A feeling of emptiness.

4. (US) A sunken area.

Translations

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. (transitive) to make a hole in something; to excavate

Etymology 2

From Middle English holowe, holwe, holu?, holgh, from the noun (see above).

Adjective

hollow (comparative hollower, superlative hollowest)

1. (of something solid) Having an empty space or cavity inside.

   a hollow tree; a hollow sphere

2. (of a sound) Distant, eerie; echoing, reverberating, as if in a hollow space; dull, muffled; often low-pitched.
   • 1903, George Gordon Byron, On Leaving Newstead Abbey

     Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle:

3. (figuratively) Without substance; having no real or significant worth; meaningless.

   a hollow victory

4. (figuratively) Insincere, devoid of validity; specious.

   a hollow promise

5. Concave; gaunt; sunken.
   • c. 1596-1599, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

     To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow

6. (gymnastics) Pertaining to hollow body position

Derived terms

• hollow leg

Translations

Adverb

hollow (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Completely, as part of the phrase beat hollow or beat all hollow.

Etymology 3

Compare holler.

Verb

hollow (third-person singular simple present hollows, present participle hollowing, simple past and past participle hollowed)

1. To call or urge by shouting; to hollo.
   • 1814. Sir Walter Scott, Waverley

     He has hollowed the hounds.

Interjection

hollow

1. Alternative form of hollo

References

• hollow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.