Meaning

noun a wound made by cutting

noun an open tract of land in a forest that is strewn with debris from logging (or fire or wind)

noun a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information

originLate Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0