Slot

In ice hockey, the prime scoring area up the middle of the ice, between the face-off circles. When you "clear the slot," you shove an opposing player out of the area in front of your goal.

Apart from being a thing (or rather, an absence of a thing), 'slot' is a British Army slang term meaning 'kill'. As in the phrase "Reader, I slotted him" or "I would very much like to slot him" or "James Bond has a licence to slot". There appears to be no definitive origin for the term; the most likely explanation is that the rear gunsight of many rifles (such as the British L1A1) is a notch or slot, and to put somebody in the slot is to put them in harm's way.

In Australia, 'slot' is also slang for a prison cell.

Slot (?), n. [LG. & D. slot a lock, from a verb meaning to close., to shut, D. sluiten; akin to G. schliessen, OHG. sliozan, OFries. slta, and probably to L. claudere. Cf. Close, Sluice.]

1.

A broad, flat, wooden bar; a slat or sloat.

2.

A bolt or bar for fastening a door.

[Prov. Eng.]

3.

A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; esp., one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding in it.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Slot (?), v. t. [See Slot a bar.]

To shut with violence; to slam; as, to slot a door.

[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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Slot, n. [Cf. Icel. sl, and E. sleuth.]

The track of a deer; hence, a track of any kind.

Milton.

As a bloodhound follows the slot of a hurt deer. Sir W. Scott.

 

© Webster 1913.