A slot is a narrow opening, especially one that receives something, such as a coin or a letter. It may also refer to a position or assignment, as in “He has the slot as chief copy editor”.
In football, the term is used to describe a wide receiver who can play outside the line of scrimmage. These receivers are typically smaller than their boundary counterparts, but they have great speed and can run shorter routes on the route tree, such as slants. They are often used to stretch defenses vertically and provide leverage for the quarterback against safeties and cornerbacks. Examples of NFL slot receivers include Tyreek Hill and Brandin Cooks.
Another type of slot is the one in an ISA, PCI or AGP slot on a motherboard. These slots can be filled with expansion cards that expand the functionality of a computer, such as adding memory or extra hard disk drives. Often, multiple expansion slots are available in the same system, allowing for a combination of both high-performance and low-cost components.
The slot is a narrow opening or groove in something, such as a doorway, piece of machinery, or container. It may also refer to a time or place in a schedule, program, or other activity. The etymology of the word is uncertain, although some suggest that it comes from the Dutch verb sloten, meaning to fit or slide. Other etymologies are more suggestive of its origins in English, including the Old English slota, from which the word derives its pronunciation.
A slot is a dynamic placeholder that either waits for content to be added (passive) or actively calls out to a renderer to fill it with content (active). Slots and scenarios work together to bring in content for offer management panels. However, it is not recommended that a single slot contain content from more than one scenario. Doing so can give unpredictable results. For more information on slots and their properties, see the Using Slots section of the ATG Personalization Programming Guide.