Crossword Dictionary
slow
slow - a
not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time; "a slow walker"; "the slow lane of traffic"; "her steps were slow"; "he was slow in reacting to the news"; "slow but steady growth"
at a slow tempo; "the band played a slow waltz"
(used of timepieces) indicating a time earlier than the correct time; "the clock is slow"
Slow things don't move fast, but take a while to get where they're going or do what they're doing. Traveling on a slowtrain might be fun, but you'll get to California faster on a plane.
If it takes you a long time to finish a book, you're a slow reader, and if it takes years to become fluent in a foreign language, you can call it a slow process. Slow music is relaxing, with a leisurely beat. Sometimes slow means "boring or dull," like a slow movie plot, or "running behind," like the slow clock on the wall in your math class. As a verb, slow means "to reduce speed or intensity."
etymology
Old English slaw "inactive, sluggish, torpid, lazy," also "not clever," from Proto-Germanic *slæwaz (source also of Old Saxon sleu "blunt, dull," Middle Dutch slee, Dutch sleeuw "sour, tart, blunt," Old High German sleo "blunt, dull," Old Norse sljor, Danish sløv, Swedish slö "blunt, dull"). Meaning "taking a long time" is attested from early 13c. Meaning "dull, tedious" is from 1841. As an adverb c. 1500. The slows "imaginary disease to account for lethargy" is from 1843.