slice / slīs/ • n. 1. a thin, broad piece of food, such as bread, meat, or cake, cut from a larger portion: four slices of bread potato slices. ∎  a portion or share of something: local authorities control a huge slice of public spending.2. Golf a stroke that makes the ball curve away to the right (for a left-handed player, the left), typically inadvertently. Compare with hook. ∎  (in other sports) a shot or stroke made with glancing contact to impart spin.3. a utensil with a broad, flat blade for lifting foods such as cake and fish.• v. [tr.] 1. cut (something, esp. food) into slices: slice the onion into rings| [as adj.] (sliced) a sliced loaf. ∎  (slice something off/from) cut something or a piece of something off or from (something larger), typically with one clean cut: he sliced a corner from a fried egg| fig. he sliced 70 seconds off the record. ∎  cut with or as if with a sharp implement: the bomber's wings were slicing the air with some efficiency| [intr.] the blade sliced into his palm. ∎  [intr.] move easily and quickly: Senna then sliced past Berger to take third place.2. Golf strike (the ball) or play (a stroke) so that the ball curves away to the right (for a left-handed player, the left), typically inadvertently. ∎  (in other sports) propel (the ball) with a glancing contact to impart spin: Evans went and sliced a corner into his own net.PHRASES: slice of life a realistic representation of everyday experience in a movie, play, or book.DERIVATIVES: slice·a·ble adj.slic·er n. [often in comb.] a cheese-slicer.

slice of an array.
1. The array of lower dimension that is obtained by fixing one or more of the indexes of the original array. For example, if A is a 3×4 two-dimensional array then the slice A[2,] denotes the one-dimensional row vector comprising the second row of A while A[,3] denotes the column vector comprising the third column.

2. (trim) The array that is obtained from a larger array of dimension n by restricting the range of an index. For example, if A is a 3×4 two-dimensional array then the 2×4 two-dimensional array comprising the first two rows only of A is a slice of A.

slice a slice off a cut loaf isn't missed proverbial saying, late 16th century (first recorded in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, 1592), meaning that if something has already been diminished or damaged, further damage may go unnoticed.
a slice of life a realistic representation of everyday experience in a film, play, or book.

See also a slice of the pie.

slice †shiver, splinter; applied to various flat utensils XIV; thin, flat piece XV. ME. s(c)lice, aphetic — OF. esclice (mod. éclisse) small piece of wood, etc. f. esclicier splinter, shatter (whence slice vb. XV), of Gmc. orig. (rel. to SLIT).