The Slot is a rectangular area in ice hockey that extends towards the blue line. The term slot is used to describe both the fourth position of a flying display as well as the area between the face-off circles. The word is related to the verb’sleut’, which means ‘to cut a slot in’. The term has also acquired a figurative meaning: “to fit into a slot.” The term is now used only in the context of ice hockey, but its history is rich in its use in other sports.
The word “slot” is a late 14c. French word meaning “hollow” and of uncertain origin. The word also has Old Norse roots (slod). The word was first recorded in the 1520s for the hollow of the throat above the breastbone. The term “slot machine” is not until the 1880s. But it is the most common meaning of the word “slot machine” that has been used to describe the machine.
To implement a slot, a user must map the utterance to one or more slots. The bot then maps these slots to the corresponding entities. For example, “number of rooms” or “number of nights” can be mapped to a built-in slot type. However, if the user wants to map the utterance to a custom slot type, he can use a custom slot type. Another example of a custom slot type is location, where a user can mark a specific location in an utterance.