slalom

Definition

The sport of skiing in a zigzag course through gates.

Etymology

From Norwegian sla (“steep, hill side”) and låm (“trail”).

Example Sentences

• "Slalom is her strongest Olympic sport."
• "The slalom gates are set closer together."
• "Disowned by my father... I began an erratic and increasingly steep slalom. Rejected would-be mercenary pilot, failed Jesuit novice, unpublished writer of pornography… yet for all these failures I had a tenacious faith in myself, a messiah as yet without"