Slot (Machine)

A slot is a narrow opening, especially one for receiving or admitting something, such as a coin or a letter. It can also refer to a position, time or series of events. The program received a new slot on the broadcasting schedule. He applied for the slot as chief copy editor. In linguistics, a slot is a place within a construction into which any of several morphemes can fit. See also filler (def 4).

Slot (machine)

A device that accepts coins or paper tickets with barcodes as payment and gives out credits according to a predetermined pattern. The machine may also record the player’s winning or losing patterns. Modern slot machines have a wide variety of symbols and pay tables, and some have multiple reels and multiple stops.

The game is played by inserting coins into the slot and pulling the handle. The reels spin and, if a winning combination is formed, the machine pays out the amount shown on the pay table. Some machines also have wild symbols that substitute for other symbols.

A slot is an empty place or time in a schedule, plan, or other sequence. Air traffic control slots, which limit the number of flights allowed to take off and land at a given airport during a certain time period, are used to prevent repeated delays caused by too many planes trying to fly at once. In gaming, a slot is an empty area on a game board, usually reserved for a particular type of game.