What is a Slot?

A narrow notch, groove, or opening, as a keyway in machinery or a slit for a coin in a vending machine. Also: a position in a group, series, sequence, or program, as the time slot for a news broadcast or the job of chief copy editor. Linguistics. a place in a construction into which a morpheme or morpheme sequence can fit: The tense in the verb “to slot” was changed to the tense in the noun phrase “to slot the plane into the hangar.” Compare rim (def 1).

A feature round on a video slot game that offers players the opportunity to win big money. It may take the form of a free spins round, a pick-and-click game, or another interactive element. These features can be highly lucrative, particularly if the player chooses to play on a high-variance slot.

In aviation, a scheduled time and location for an aircraft to take off or land at a busy airport, provided it is not conflicting with other flights. The term is commonly used in the United States and internationally to avoid the delays caused by too many airplanes trying to land or take off simultaneously. See slat1 (def 2).

In computers, a slots are places in a motherboard where expansion cards can be installed. The circuitry on these cards provides specialized capability such as video acceleration or disk drive control. Almost all desktop computers have a few slots for expansion cards.