rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryRoot: -er
English

-er

a person or thing that does something

Forms

  • -er
  • -r — Used after some bases ending in e.

Origin

Old English -ere, generally traced through Germanic to Latin -arius.

Note

It can name a tool as readily as a person. The comparison ending in taller has a different history.

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noun

slammer

SLAM-er/ˈslæmər/

A jail or prison.

A locked, barred door blocks the way out of the slammer.

An empty jail cell seen through its closed barred door, with a substantial lock, a narrow institutional bunk and a stainless-steel toilet clearly identifying confinement rather than an ordinary barred enclosure.
Etymology
slammEnglishshut with force
+erEnglisha person or thing that does something

A slammer is literally something that slams. The prison sense perhaps grew from an earlier slang use meaning “door,” linking confinement with a door shutting forcefully.

In context

Biography29:42
It'll be another Christmas in the slammer for John Gotti. The reputed Gambino Crime Family boss was arrested last December.
The Fall of the American Mafia (S1, E3) | American Godfathers: The Five Families | Full Episode

More examples

  • He spends six months in the slammer for theft.
  • The judge threatens to send her back to the slammer.
  • He wants a steady job and a life outside the slammer.

Forms

slammer · slammers

Similar words

jail
A neutral term, often for short sentences or pretrial detention.
prison
A neutral term, usually for confinement under longer criminal sentences.