slam.
To shut with sudden force so as to produce a shock and noise.
Meaning & usage
To shut with sudden force so as to produce a shock and noise.
Don't slam the door!
To put in or on a particular place with force and loud noise. (Often followed by a preposition such as down, against or into.)
Don't slam that trunk down on the pavement!
To strike forcefully with some implement.
To strike against suddenly and heavily.
The boat slammed into the bank and we were almost thrown into the river.
To strike and take the life of or at least incapacitate for some time.
To defeat or overcome in a match.
The Armenian football team has slammed the Turks 6–0.
To speak badly of; to criticize forcefully.
Don't ever slam me in front of the boss like that again!
Union leaders slammed the new proposals.
To compete in a poetry slam.
To slam-dance.
To dunk forcefully, to slam dunk.
To move a customer from one service provider to another without their consent.
To drink off, to drink quickly.
To inject intravenously; shoot up.
To perform coitus upon forcefully; to rail.
To occupy and busy with a high workload.
Of a chaffinch: to produce a certain forceful trilling sound.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).
A sudden impact or blow.
The shock and noise produced by violently closing a door or other object.
A slam dunk.
One of the competitions of the yearly Grand Slam events.
An insult.
I don't mean this as a slam, but you can be really impatient sometimes.
The yellow iron silicate produced in alum works as a waste product.
A poetry slam.
A slambook.
A subgenre of death metal with elements of hardcore punk focusing on midtempo rhythms, breakdowns and palm-muted riffs.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *slammen (not recorded), apparently from a Scandinavian source ultimately from Old Norse slæma, slœma (“to slam, swing a weapon, strike an object out of reach”), related to Old Norse slamra, slambra (“to slam”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål slamre (“to slam”), Swedish slamra (“to pound, beat, make a clatter, rattle”), Norwegian Nynorsk slamra (“to sway, dangle”).
A type of card game, also called ruff and honours.
A card game, played all at once without separate turns, in which players attempt to get rid of their cards as quickly as possible according to certain rules.
Losing or winning all the tricks in a game.
A bid of six (small slam) or seven (grand slam) in a suit or no trump.
Winning all (or all but one) of the available, major or specified events in a given year or sports season.
Where this word comes from
Unknown and long-speculated, though perhaps at least reinforced by Etymology 1. Doublet of chelem.
To defeat (opponents at cards) by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand.
To make a slam bid.
Where this word comes from
Unknown and long-speculated, though perhaps at least reinforced by Etymology 1. Doublet of chelem.
A shambling fellow.
Where this word comes from
Compare Dutch slomp, German Schlampe.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.