slot

/slɑt/

/slɒt/

Other forms: slots; slotted; slotting

A thin opening or groove in something is a slot. You can put letters and postcards through the mail slot at the post office.

A gum ball machine has a slot for inserting a coin, and some front doors have a special slot for mail carriers to put mail in. A screwdriver fits neatly into the slot on top of a screw. Another kind of slot is a space in a schedule or calendar: "I have a half-hour slot on Thursday for our meeting." In the 14th century, a slot was "the hollow above the breastbone."

Definitions of slot

1. noun

   a small slit (as for inserting a coin or depositing mail)
   “he put a quarter in the slot”

   types:

   coin slot

   a slot through which coins can be inserted into a slot machine

   mail slot

   a slot (usually in a door) through which mail can be delivered

   type of:

   slit

   a long narrow opening
2. noun

   a time assigned on a schedule or agenda
   “the TV program has a new time slot”

   “an aircraft landing slot”

   synonyms: time slot

   type of:

   interval, time interval

   a definite length of time marked off by two instants
3. noun

   a position in a hierarchy or organization
   “Bob Dylan occupied the top slot for several weeks”

   “she beat some tough competition for the number one slot”

   type of:

   position, status

   the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society
4. noun

   (computer) a socket in a microcomputer that will accept a plug-in circuit board
   “the PC had three slots for additional memory”

   synonyms: expansion slot

   type of:

   receptacle

   an electrical (or electronic) fitting that is connected to a source of power and equipped to receive an insert
5. noun

   a slot machine that is used for gambling
   “they spend hours and hours just playing the slots”

   synonyms: one-armed bandit

   types:

   fruit machine

   a coin-operated gambling machine that produces random combinations of symbols (usually pictures of different fruits) on rotating dials; certain combinations win money for the player

   type of:

   coin machine, slot machine

   a machine that is operated by the insertion of a coin in a slot
6. noun

   a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable
   “he developed a version of slot grammar”

   type of:

   position, spatial relation

   the spatial property of a place where or way in which something is situated
7. noun

   the trail of an animal (especially a deer)
   “he followed the deer's slot over the soft turf to the edge of the trees”

   type of:

   trail

   a track or mark left by something that has passed
8. verb

   assign a time slot
   “slot a television program”

   type of:

   schedule

   plan for an activity or event