slew

Picture three small scenes. In the first, someone opens their inbox after a long weekend and finds a slew of new messages. Here, the word means a large number of things. In the second, a car hits ice and slews to the side. Here, it means to turn or slide sharply, often in an uncontrolled way. In the third, you might meet the old-fashioned form slew in a story, where it simply means "killed" as the past tense of slay. These are the main ways the word appears, though the "large number" meaning is the one most people hear most often today.

The word "slew" carries more than one meaning, and the context usually makes the right one clear.

The most common modern use is as a noun meaning a large number or amount. If someone says there was "a slew of questions after the talk," they mean there were many questions, perhaps enough to feel a bit heavy or hard to manage. This use is common in news writing and everyday speech because it sounds stronger and more colorful than simply saying "many."

It is also used as a verb meaning to turn, swing, or slide sharply to one side. This sense often appears when talking about vehicles, machines, or anything moving suddenly off line. A truck might slew across a wet road, or a camera crane might slew left during a shot. The idea is quick sideways movement, sometimes controlled, sometimes not.

There is also an older literary use: slew as the past tense of slay. In that sense, "the knight slew the dragon" simply means "the knight killed the dragon." This form still appears in fantasy stories, the Bible, and older-style writing, but it is much less common in everyday conversation.

So the word has three main lives: a crowd of things, a sharp sideways turn, and an old past-tense form meaning "killed." If you meet it in modern daily English, the "large number" meaning is usually the one being used.