A slot is a narrow opening in a machine or container, for example a slit for coins in a vending machine. A slot can also refer to a specific position in a series or sequence, as in “He is in the third slot from the left.”
In football, the slot receiver (or “slotback”) is a receiving specialist who lines up in a particular spot on the field, usually between and slightly behind the outside wide receivers and the offensive tackles. The position got its name from where it typically lines up pre-snap—the area between and somewhat behind the other wide receivers. Slot receivers are typically shorter and quicker than traditional wide receivers, making them harder to defend. They often run a variety of routes and can also block on running plays.
Many slot machines feature a special bonus round that activates when certain symbols appear on the reels. These bonuses vary between games, but can include free spins with a different theme or odds than the primary game, or an extra scatter symbol that awards a jackpot payout. Some slots have a wild symbol that substitutes for all other symbols to improve the chances of a winning combination.
A v-slot directive allows the parent component to pass data to a child function for rendering, in much the same way that scoped slots work in manual render functions. The template v-slot:header> shorthand can be used to refer to this concept, and the expressions that slot content runs can make use of any data passed to it.
Having to wait for your plane to take off is no fun, especially after you’ve checked in, made it through security, waited at the gate and struggled to find a place in the overhead lockers. But what does it mean when you hear the captain say, “We’re waiting on a slot”?
When you book a flight, the airline may give you a specific time of departure, which is known as your slot. This is the estimated time at which your plane will be ready to leave the airport, and it can depend on factors such as the weather, traffic delays and staffing levels.
The slot time for a commercial aircraft is normally published in the flight schedule and on the airline’s website, and is usually given as an absolute number of minutes after the scheduled departure time. The exact time depends on the destination airport and the air traffic control system it uses, which is centralized in Europe by Eurocontrol. Some airlines, such as Emirates, have a fixed number of slots that they allocate to each route—either based on their market share or on the amount of capacity they need per flight. Others have a limited number of slot allocations for each flight, which are allocated to customers on a first-come-first-serve basis. In either case, the airline must make sure that all slots are filled before the scheduled departure. If not, the passengers will be rebooked for another flight.