1884 I. M. Rittenhouse Jrnl. in Maud (1939) 296 Oh! did I tell you that Mr. Hough to atone for his ‘slams’, said, ‘I did want to make one gallant speech, but I hardly dared, about how remarkably well you looked Tuesday night.’

1944 B. A. Botkin Treasury Amer. Folklore iii. 410 Certain formulae are identified with disparaging or insulting wisecracks, or ‘slams’.

1980 R. L. Duncan Brimstone i. 22 I don't take that description as a slam. I was a great piece of ass.

1960 R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 164 Slam, jail.

1965 A. Lurie Nowhere City (1966) xi. 118 That was really thinking fast. I guess you saved me a night in slam.

1972 J. Wainwright Requiem for Loser vi. 132 Reginald Drover. Escapee from one of Her Majesty's slams.

1972 S. Greenlee in W. King Black Short Story Anthol. 95 Uncle Benny told him that getting a bad teacher for a year was like being in the slam, and you just did your time and didn't let it bug you.

1978 J. Gores Gone, no Forwarding vii. 40 You're going to the slam for fifteen.

1621 J. Taylor Motto D 4 Ruffe, slam, Trump, nody.

1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. T5 At Post and Paire, or Slam, Tom Tuck would play.

1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (1680) 82 At Ruff and Honours, by some called Slamm, you have in the Pack all the Deuces.

1927 Work-Whitehead Auction Bridge Bull. Feb. 141 Contract in its original form, minus the recently introduced ‘vulnerable’ feature and slam bidding, made its first appearance abroad some fifteen years ago.

1929 M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge p. xi The partner..must jump if his hand warrant it—either one step..or a vault toward a slam bid.

1929 M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge i. 5 The reward for slams is so great that special slam-bidding conventions have been invented.

1947 E. Klein Enjoy your Bridge ii. xiii. 114 Be content to win a perfectly safe contract and leave your slam bids for a later stage.

1974 Times 16 Feb. 13/2 Slam bidding is treated in most text books as if it..cannot be covered by ordinary approach bidding.

1929 M. C. Work Compl. Contract Bridge p. xi They may even score a slam bonus.

1938 J. Culbertson Contract Bridge for Beginners xv. 184 The presence or absence of control cards can affect the success of your slam contract.

1959 Listener 8 Jan. 84/2 There is every reason to hope for a slam contract in some suit.

1977 Times 16 Apr. 11/8 He..bid Three Diamonds which..in conjunction with the cue~bids, produced a slam contract in the wrong suit.

1928 M. C. Work Contract Bridge (new ed.) 69 The adoption of the special slam conventions too often closes the mouth of a player who otherwise would be able to make a highly useful and enlightening declaration of the normal conventional variety.

1937 J. Crane Crane Syst. Contract Bidding 78 (heading) Examples of a bidding game and slam hands from matches.

1979 T. Reese & J. Flint Trick 13 17 I didn't know anything was wrong till that slam hand near the finish.

1987 Wall St. Jrnl. 24 Aug. i. 1/4 Welcome to the brutal world of ‘slam poetry’.

1987 Wall St. Jrnl. 24 Aug. i. 24/1 Some poets disdain the slam... The slam's advocates dismiss such critics as elitist... The slam..attracts people who otherwise might never hear poetry.

1993 N.Y. Times 31 Jan. ix. 4/7 ‘Have you judged Maya Angelou's inaugural poem at a slam yet?’ ‘No, it was an automatic ten-er.’

2000 Independent on Sunday (Electronic ed.) 1 Oct. From 5.30–7 pm, there's the first in a series of Poetry in the Bar Slams.

1650–1 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1887) V. Throwing the slam of allome into the water-course.

1679 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1054 That which they call Slam, is first perceived by the redness of the Liquor when it comes from the Pit.

1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis iii. iii. i. 343 Certain Nitrous and other parts call'd Slam.

1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse v. 101 Miss. I don't like my Lord's shapes, Nurse. Nurse. Why in good truly, as a Body may say, he is but a slam.

1691 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 137 A slam or slim Fellow is a skragged, tall, rawboned Fellow.

1691 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 137 To Slam one, to beat or cuffe one strenuously.

1825–56 in Eng. Dial. Dict.

1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 359 To shut a door violently, or to let it slam to of itself.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. v. vi. 266 The huge Drawbridge slams down.

1858 C. Dickens Let. 5 Aug. (1995) VIII. 618 Big doors slam and resound when anybody comes in.

1893 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3rd Ser. 4 58 The gates are so hung that, if carelessly left open, they will always slam to and fasten.

1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 320 I no sooner rais'd my Head in Sight, but slam came three or four Stones at me.

1755 T. Smollett tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote I. iv. x. 285 Slam went his head to the ground.

1802 ‘P. Pindar’ Middlesex Election i. 22 Slam off a [= he] went, without more ado: Nort could his bacon save.

1914 G. B. Shaw Misalliance 42 Theyre coming slam into the greenhouse.

1925 J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods xx Do you think it was just accident that he copped off that hundred and sixty acres, right slam-jam in the middle of old Mart Willoughby's fifty thousand acres?

1930 E. Pound Draft of XXX Cantos xviii. 82 An' he run damn slam on the breakwater.

1973 Times 2 Nov. 13/6 Rosa..savagely slamming around the kitchen.

1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. iv. 209 She didn't even see the small stone wall until she had slammed into it.

1796 J. Wolcot Wks. (1816) IV. 186 One scoundrel..with a slammin stick, Com'd souse upon my sconce.

1868 J. R. Green Let. 20 Oct. (1901) 204 There was a great slamming of pew doors.

1892 Daily News 29 Apr. 5/4 The wing of a slamming door shut in front of him.

1893 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 3rd Ser. 4 58 Formerly the posts, both hanging and slamming posts, were made of oak.

1935 Engineering 18 Jan. 55/1 ‘Pounding’ or ‘slamming’ damage is looked upon as no more than a normal circumstance..of cargo vessels trading across the North Atlantic.

1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 685/1 Slamming almost always takes place forward... Slamming damage is usually ascribed to dynamic pressures arising from impact of the ship's hull upon the surface of the water, and from the actual impulsive displacement of water caused by the downward movement of the ship when pitching.

1972 C. Mudie Motor Boats 17 If such a craft were to be taken to sea she would rapidly be found to be..apt to break her back from slamming when pitching.

1959 Punch 6 May 611/1 The players are naturally pleased when one of their team gets, ‘hits’, or ‘slams’ a goal.

1986 Philadelphia Inquirer 11 July c2/5 George Foster slammed a three-run double and Bob Ojeda scattered seven hits as host New York snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Atlanta.

1987 Wisden Cricket Monthly Aug. 39/2 Instead of bowlers rampaging at the start Hardie and Gooch slammed 202 for the first wicket on the way to a total of 280 for 2.

1973 C. Mullard Black Brit. ii. vi. 68 By..producing the facts about immigration which slam his own exaggerations, they are, like it or not, playing into Powell's hands.

1985 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 10 Dec. 3 (heading) Card artists slam claims of deception.

1989 Constr. News 8 June 4/4 Criticisms that the Government sees road building as the only solution to the capital's congestion problems were slammed as a myth by Mr Bottomley.

1958 J. L. Kent Ships in Rough Water ix. 120 Ships occasionally ‘slam’ when driven through rough seas.

1976 M. Machlin Pipeline lvi. 566 The lifeboat was now slamming through the choppy two and three foot high waves at over twenty knots.

1986 Pract. Boat Owner July 57/1 Of course, she's more likely to slam if wave-hopping.

1988 Motor Boat & Yachting Oct. 98/4 It gave an exciting ride, slamming and skittering in the chop and returning its crew safely with broad grins on their faces.

1746 E. Hoyle Whist 80 D having seven Spades in his Hand wins them, and consequently Slams A and B.

1907 Daily Mail 5 Sept. 6/1 He [a race-horse] absolutely slammed his field.

1833 W. H. Maxwell Field Bk. 489.

a1658 N. Wallington Hist. Notices (1869) II. 94 They returned only burning and slamming themselves in rage and malice.

1760 S. Foote Minor i. 36 Slam me, but the man's mad!

1767 T. Bridges Homer Travestie (ed. 2) I. 213 But ev'ry syllable is true, Or slam me if I'd tell it you!

1988 Communications Week 12 Dec. 20/2 AT&T is trying to gauge the degree to which its residential customers are being ‘slammed’ by companies marketing the services of its long distance rivals.

1995 Consumer Rep. Sept. 574/2 A long-distance phone company has ‘slammed’ you—switched you to their service without your permission.

2000 Age (Melbourne) 13 Dec. (Business section) 2/4 They will write to all affected customers and provide compensation in cases where it can be shown that the customer had been ‘slammed’.