If you’re a teenager who spends at least seventy hours a week in front of a screen, you’re a SLOT. This word was first recorded in the late 14c., and originally meant a hollow in the throat above the breastbone. It’s a variant of Old French esclot, which is of uncertain origin. Another version of the word comes from Old Norse, and its meaning first appears in the 1520s. Today, a SLOT can be a girl or a guy.

In the 1980s, slot manufacturers began incorporating electronics into their machines. These electronics allowed the machine to automatically weight different symbols in a way that increased the likelihood that certain combinations would result in a payout. Increasingly, the pay table for a particular game was constantly updated and improved, and winnings grew exponentially. Moreover, the pay table for a particular slot was not necessarily listed on the machine itself, but was also available in the help menu on video machines.

Another common term for slot is “slot,” which refers to a rectangular area in a hockey field, and extends to the blue line. The word derives from the Latin slata, which means “slotted”. Its usage in hockey is derived from the verb sleutana and is cognate with the German Schloss. If you’re an avid hockey fan, you know the value of a slot in a game.