Cut Someone Some Slack Comes From Rope
Slack means loose or not busy. The phrase about giving someone slack comes from easing tension on a line.
Slack means loose rather than taut, or a quiet period with little activity. *Cut someone some slack* is a rope image: easing tension on a line gives the other end room to move, so cutting someone slack means allowing them latitude. Sailors and climbers still use *slack* and *take up the slack* literally. Latin *laxus*, loose, is the distant relative, which also gives *lax*, *relax* and *release*.
- Loose. *A slack rope.*
- Quiet or inactive. *A slack season.*
- Careless. *Slack work.*
- Cut some slack — allow latitude. *Cut him some slack.*
- Old English — *slæc*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | slack | Slack. |
| Noun | slack | The slack. |
| Verb | slacken | Slacken it. |
| Agent | slacker | A slacker. |
| Related | lax | Lax. |
- Take up the slack in the line.Rope.
- Trade is slack in January.Business.
- Cut him some slack.Idiom.
The laxus family
- Slack — loose, through Germanic
- Lax — loose or careless, straight from Latin
- Relax — to loosen again
- Release — to loosen back, through French
- Languish — from a related root meaning to be faint
Old English *slæc*, loose or careless, from a Germanic root related to Latin *laxus*, loose.
Where does cut some slack come from?
From rope work. Easing tension on a line gives the other end room to move, so allowing someone slack means giving them latitude.
Are slack and relax related?
Distantly. Both trace to a root meaning loose, one through Germanic and one through Latin laxus.