A defined interval, or slot, of time recognizable by devices and designated for a specific purpose or operation. For example, a T1 facility has a signaling rate of 1.544 Mbps.Therefore, the transmitting timedivision multiplexer (TDM mux) creates a signal with every bit occupying a slot of time of 1 / 1,544,000 second, and the receiving mux monitors the circuit to extract the bits at the same pace. The term is also applied to multibit intervals devoted to a single connection, as in a DS-0 time slot, which is an eight-bit slot in an E/T-carrier voice grade channel. See also channel, circuit, DS-0, E-carrier, multiplexer, signal, signaling rate, T1, T-carrier, TDM, and voice grade.