slur

 
Pronunciation: /sləː/

verb (slurs, slurring, slurred)

[with object]
  • 1speak (words) indistinctly so that the sounds run into one another: he was slurring his words like a drunk
  • [no object] (of words or speech) be slurred: his speech was beginning to slur
  • pass over (a fact or aspect) so as to conceal or minimize it: essential attributes are being slurred over or ignored
  • 2 Music perform (a group of two or more notes) legato: (as adjective slurred) a group of slurred notes
  • mark (notes) with a slur.
  • 3chiefly US make damaging or insulting insinuations or allegations about: try and slur the integrity of the police to secure an acquittal

noun

  • 1an insinuation or allegation about someone that is likely to insult them or damage their reputation: the comments were a slur on staff at the hospital
  • 2an act of speaking indistinctly so that sounds or words run into one another or a tendency to speak in such a way: there was a trace of a slur in his voice
  • 3 Music a curved line used to show that a group of two or more notes are to be sung to one syllable or played or sung legato.

Origin:

Middle English: originally as noun in sense 'thin, fluid mud', later as verb meaning 'smear, smirch', 'disparage (a person)', 'gloss over (a fault)'