to give a judgment of the quality of (something)
disapprove, judge as bad
Cases of word usage
1) (one of) a series of horizontal or sloping bars or rods of a fence etc; a continuous line of such bars, laid on the ground for trains; to criticize a person angrily (rail)
2) a kind of blue-grey stone that splits easily into thin, flat layers; to criticize (a book, play etc) severely (slate)