pick up the slack

verb6

1. •
   To tighten something that is slack so that it is taut.

   • In such cases even a four-to-one multiplying reel is much too slow to pick up the slack, and a single-action fly reel is hopelessly inadequate. — 1946
2. •
   To do work that would otherwise be left undone.

   • When one person on a team is learning a new skill, the rest of the team can often pick up the slack and keep the team on track. — 2012
3. •
   To provide extra needed resources.

   • In a city financed largely by user fees, government coffers have little to spare for subsidies. Voluntary contributions could pick up the slack. — 1998
4. •
   To consume something that would otherwise go to waste.

   • When the world economy is in a downturn, developing countries look to the United States to pick up the slack and absorb excess supply. — 2017
5. •
   To act as a slack variable, converting an inequality into an equality.
6. •
   Alternative form of take up the slack.