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slate

1. To cover with slate, or with a substance resembling slate; as, to slate a roof; to slate a globe.

2. To register (as on a slate and subject to revision), for an appointment.

Origin: Slated; Slating.

1. (Science: chemical) An argillaceous rock which readily splits into thin plates; argillite; argillaceous schist.

2. Any rock or stone having a slaty structure.

3. A prepared piece of such stone. Especially: A thin, flat piece, for roofing or covering houses, etc.

A tablet for writing upon.

4. An artificial material, resembling slate, and used for the above purposes.

5. A thin plate of any material; a flake.

6. A list of candidates, prepared for nomination or for election; a list of candidates, or a programme of action, devised beforehand. Adhesive slate, a variety of calcite of silvery white luster and of a slaty structure. Transparent slate, a plate of translucent material, as ground glass, upon which a copy of a picture, placed beneath it, can be made by tracing.

Origin: OE. Slat, OF. Esclat a shiver, splinter, F. Eclat, fr. OF. Esclater to shiver, to chip, F. Eclater, fr. OHG. Sliezen to tear, slit, split, fr. Slizan to slit, G. Schleissen. See Slit, and cf. Eclat.