aslant

comparative more aslant · superlative most aslant

1. archaicliteraryAt or on a slant; in a slanting or sloping direction.

   A pigeon is not easily brought down—the quills are so stiff and strong that the shot, if it comes aslant, will glance off.

   1878 June, R[ichard] J[efferies], “Some of His Subjects: Dogs, Rabbits, ‘Mice, and Such Small Deer’”, in The Gamekeeper at Home: Sketches of Natural History and Rural Life, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 113

   5 more examples

   Take the Handle of it [a chisel] in your Right Hand as you did the Gouge, and claſping the Blade of it in your Left Hand, lean it ſteddy upon the Reſt, holding the Edge a little aſlant over the VVork, […]

   1680, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] XII. Applied to the Art of Turning.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1678, →OCLC, § XII (Of the Drill-bench), page 212

   He Fell: The Shaft [of the arrow] that ſlightly vvas impreſs'd, / Novv from his heavy Fall vvith vveight increas'd, / Drove through his Neck, aſlant, he ſpurns the Ground; / And the Soul iſſues through the VVeazon's VVound.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “The Twelfth Book of Ovid his Metamorphoses, Wholly Translated”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 447

   Blovvn all aſlant, a driving daſhing rain, / Peal upon peal redoubling all around, / Shakes it again and faſter to the ground, […]

   1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 85

   The light was yet there; shining dim, but constant, through the rain. […] It led me aslant over the hill, through a wide bog; which would have been impassable in winter, and was splashy and shaking even now, in the height of summer.

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter II, in Jane Eyre. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 65

   A wall with three windows looking out on to the canal ran aslant so that one corner formed a very acute angle, and it was difficult to see in it without very strong light.

   1914, Fyodor Dostoevsky, chapter IV, in Constance Garnett, transl., Crime and Punishment […] (The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction; XVIII), New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son Company, published 1917, →OCLC, part IV, page 321

   Synonyms: aslope, atilt, diagonally, obliquely

comparative more aslant · superlative most aslant

1. archaicliterarySlanting, oblique.

   Near-synonym: askance

   5 more examples

   As for the manner and faſhion of the cut [when pruning grapevines], it ought alvvaies to be aſlant, like a goats foot, that no drops of raine may ſettle and reſt thereupon, but that euery ſhovvre may ſoon ſhoot off: […]

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVII.] Of Furrowes and Trenches wherein Vines are Planted: Also of Pruning Vines.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 533

   But their manner of vvriting is very peculiar, being neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans; nor from the right to the left, like the Arabians; nor from up to dovvn, like the Chinese; nor from down to up, like the Caſcagians; but aſlant from one Corner of the Paper to the other, like Ladies in England.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput; […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 94

   He ſpake, and, dovvnvvard ſvvay'd, fell reſupine, / VVith his huge neck aſlant. All-conqu'ring ſleep / Soon ſeized him.

   1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book IX.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 208, lines 533–535

   Twas now the earliest morning; soon the Sun, / Rising above Albardos, pour'd his light / Amid the forest, and with ray aslant / Entering its depth, illumed the branchless pines, […]

   1814, Robert Southey, “Canto III”, in Roderick the Last of the Goths, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], →OCLC, page 27

   Meantime everything in the Pequod was aslant. To cross to the other side of the deck was like walking up the steep gabled roof of a house.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Virgin”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 400

   Synonyms: askew, aslope, atilt, diagonal, oblique, slanted, nonorthogonal, unperpendicular · Antonyms: nonoblique, orthogonal, perpendicular

1. archaicliteraryAcross or over in a slanting or diagonal direction.

   Ye Ladies of Lapland vvho beeſoms beſtride, / Or, pair'd in VVitch VVhiſkeys, aſlant the Moon ſlide; […]

   1772, George Alexander Stevens, “Song CIX. The Portrait; or, La, La, La. Tune,—Colin and Phæbe.”, in Songs, Comic, and Satyrical, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed for the author; sold by J. Waller, […]; G[eorge] Robinson, […]; and F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, stanza IV, page 202

   4 more examples

   There is a VVillovv grovves aſlant a Brooke, / That ſhevves his hore [hoar] leaues in the glaſſie ſtreame: […]

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], page 276, column 2

   […] I have inſerted in Plate 14. at O, vvhere you may perceive in or near vvhat poſition the Chiſſel muſt be ſet to cut the VVork; and hovv the edge of the Chiſſel a b lying aſlant the VVork, […]

   1680, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] XII. Applied to the Art of Turning.”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume I, London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1678, →OCLC, § XII (Of the Drill-bench), page 212

   I oft have passed your cottage, and still prais'd / Its beauty, and that trim orchard-plot, whose blossoms / The gusts of April shower'd aslant its thatch.

   1815 December – 1816 January (date written), S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Usurpation Ended; or, She Comes Again”, in Zapolya: A Christmas Tale, […], London: […] [Samuel Curtis] for Rest Fenner, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 45

   But aslant this particular glass reclined a single, white, wintry rose, possibly the last rose ever, its invalid complexion infused with a delicate transcendent green.

   1979, Patrick White, “Part II”, in The Twyborn Affair […], London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 209

   Synonyms: aslope, athwart, atilt