English Dictionary

take up the slack

verb

To tighten something that is slack so that it is taut. / To do work that would otherwise be left undone. / To provide extra resources that are not met by normal sources.

I will take up the slack and complete the project on time.

意味（1）

To tighten something that is slack so that it is taut.

You need to take up the slack in your cables so shifters and brakes function properly.

意味（2）

To do work that would otherwise be left undone.

A production never has enough time or enough money. Someone has to take up the slack.

意味（3）

To provide extra resources that are not met by normal sources.

As oil production worldwide plateaus and falters, other fossil fuels are coming under strain, and no alternative — renewable or otherwise — shows any sign of being able to take up the slack.

意味（4）

(mathematics) To act as a slack variable, converting an inequality into an equality.

A slack variable is a real variable which is introduced to take up the slack in an inequality constraint, i.e., to convert an inequality constraint to an equality constraint.

意味（5）

To consume something that would otherwise go to waste.

It is the nature of monopoly capitalism to create unused industrial capacity and unemployment. The arms economy is an effort to take up the slack in this unused capacity.