Slate \Slate\, n. [OE. slat, OF. esclat a shiver, splinter, F. ['e]clat, fr. OF. esclater to shiver, to chip, F. ['e]clater, fr. OHG. sliezen to tear, slit, split, fr. sl[=i]zan to slit, G. schleissen. See Slit, v. t., and cf. Eclat.]

1. (Min.) 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) A thin, flat piece, for roofing or covering houses, etc.
   (b) 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. [Obs.]

6. (Politics) A list of candidates, prepared for nomination or for election; a list of candidates, or a programme of action, devised beforehand. [Cant, U.S.]

--Bartlett.

Adhesive slate (Min.), a kind of slate of a greenish gray color, which absorbs water rapidly, and adheres to the tongue; whence the name.

Aluminous slate, or Alum slate (Min.), a kind of slate containing sulphate of alumina, -- used in the manufacture of alum.

Bituminous slate (Min.), a soft species of sectile clay slate, impregnated with bitumen.

Hornblende slate (Min.), a slaty rock, consisting essentially of hornblende and feldspar, useful for flagging on account of its toughness.

Slate ax or axe, a mattock with an ax end, used in shaping slates for roofs, and making holes in them for the nails.

Slate clay (Geol.), an indurated clay, forming one of the alternating beds of the coal measures, consisting of an infusible compound of alumina and silica, and often used for making fire bricks. --Tomlinson.

Slate globe, a globe the surface of which is made of an artificial slatelike material.

Slate pencil, a pencil of slate, or of soapstone, used for writing on a slate.

Slate rocks (Min.), rocks which split into thin lamin[ae], not necessarily parallel to the stratification; foliated rocks.

Slate spar (Min.), 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Ax \Ax\, Axe \Axe\,, n. [OE. ax, axe, AS. eax, [ae]x, acas; akin to D. akse, OS. accus, OHG. acchus, G. axt, Icel. ["o]x, ["o]xi, Sw. yxe, Dan. ["o]kse, Goth. aqizi, Gr. ?, L. ascia; not akin to E. acute.]

A tool or instrument of steel, or of iron with a steel edge or blade, for felling trees, chopping and splitting wood, hewing timber, etc. It is wielded by a wooden helve or handle, so fixed in a socket or eye as to be in the same plane with the blade. The broadax, or carpenter's ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle.

Note: The ancient battle-ax had sometimes a double edge.

Note: The word is used adjectively or in combination; as, axhead or ax head; ax helve; ax handle; ax shaft; ax-shaped; axlike.

Note: This word was originally spelt with e, axe; and so also was nearly every corresponding word of one syllable: as, flaxe, taxe, waxe, sixe, mixe, pixe, oxe, fluxe, etc. This superfluous e is not dropped; so that, in more than a hundred words ending in x, no one thinks of retaining the e except in axe. Analogy requires its exclusion here.

Note: ``The spelling ax is better on every ground, of etymology, phonology, and analogy, than axe, which has of late become prevalent.'' --New English Dict. (Murray).

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Axe \Axe\, Axeman \Axe"man\, etc. See Ax, Axman.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Grub \Grub\, n.

1. (Zo["o]l.) The larva of an insect, especially of a beetle; -- called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under Goldsmith.

Yet your butterfly was a grub. --Shak.

2. A short, thick man; a dwarf. [Obs.]

--Carew.

3. Victuals; food. [Slang] --Halliwell.

Grub ax or axe, a kind of mattock used in grubbing up roots, etc.

Grub breaker. Same as Grub hook (below).

Grub hoe, a heavy hoe for grubbing.

Grub hook, a plowlike implement for uprooting stumps, breaking roots, etc.

Grub saw, a handsaw used for sawing marble.

Grub Street, a street in London (now called Milton Street), described by Dr. Johnson as ``much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called grubstreet.'' As an adjective, suitable to, or resembling the production of, Grub Street.

I 'd sooner ballads write, and grubstreet lays. --Gap.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)