A slot is a time or place that has been allocated by an airport or air-traffic controller to allow an aircraft to take off or land. The term can also refer to an airframe part, such as the wing, which has been fitted with slots, or to a position within a team, such as an attacking midfielder in football or a centre forward in rugby, that affords a good vantage point from which to score a goal. The word is also used to mean a specific kind of machine, particularly video games that have multiple pay lines, bonus rounds and other features.
A mechanical or electrical device that is designed to accept coins or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, paper tickets with barcodes, and then to pay out credits based on the combination of symbols it displays. Most slot games have a theme, and the symbols vary according to that theme. Some common symbols include fruits, bells and stylized lucky sevens. Many slot machines have one or more pay lines and may offer special bonuses, scatter pays or jackpots.
In computing, a slot is an allocation of resources for a task, usually compute or network resources, that makes up a portion of a computer’s capacity or bandwidth. It is a way to manage workloads and avoid resource bottlenecks by allocating resources based on demand. A slot can be purchased, assigned to a resource and allocated to a job in pools called reservations. A reservation can contain several slots, allowing you to divide work into smaller batches that can be executed in parallel and thus complete more quickly.
A slot is also the name of a place in a schedule, plan or diary. If someone asks you to meet them at a certain time, say that you’re available at “the slot”. The word can also be used as an informal synonym for an empty chair or table in a room. For example, if you see a jacket draped across the back of a chair at a casino table, assume that it’s taken and don’t try to push past it. This is especially important in busy rooms, where a slot can be your only hope of getting a seat to play.
