different between aslope vs slant

English

Etymology

From Middle English aslope, probably from or akin to Old English ?slopen, past participle of Old English ?sl?pan (“to slip away”).

Adjective

aslope (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Slanted or sloping.

   Synonyms: diagonal, oblique

   • 1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Love, Hope, and Patience in Education” in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, London: William Pickering, 1834, Volume 3, p. 331,^[1]

     Methinks, I see them group’d in seemly show,

     The straiten’d arms uprais’d, the palms aslope,

   • 1911, G. K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown, The Honor of Israel Gow

     Far as the eye could see, farther and farther as they mounted the slope, were seas beyond seas of pines, now all aslope one way under the wind.

Adverb

aslope (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Slanted or sloping.

   Synonyms: diagonally, obliquely

   • 1516, Robert Fabyan, Fabyan’s Chronicle, London: William Rastell, 1533, Part 7,^[2]

     But the Flemynges with theyr arbalasters and theyr longe mareys pykes set aslope before them wounded so theyr horses, that they lay tumbelynge one in the others necke […]

   • 1674, Charles Cotton, The Compleat Gamester, London: R. Cutler, Chapter 5, p. 55,^[3]

     The Bishop walks always in the same colour of the field that he is first placed in, forward and backward asloap every way as far as he lists;

   • 1710, Jonathan Swift, “A Description of a City Shower” in Miscellanies, London: Benjamin Motte, 1733, Volume 4, p. 141,^[4]

     Brisk Susan whips her Linnen from the Rope,

     While the first drizzling Show’r is born aslope,

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, New York: Harper, Chapter 134, p. 617,^[5]

     While the two crews were yet circling in the waters […] , while aslope little Flask bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitching his legs upward to escape the dreaded jaws of sharks;

2. (archaic, figuratively) In an unintended or unfavourable direction.

   Synonym: off course

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonby, Book 3, Canto 4, p. 459,^[6]

     His wicked fortune, that had turnd aslope

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, London: S. Simmons, Book 10, p. 282,^[7]

     […] On mee the Curse aslope

     Glanc’d on the ground, with labour I must earne

     My bread; what harm?

Preposition

aslope

1. (archaic) Diagonally over or across.

   Synonyms: aslant, athwart

   • 1616, Thomas Middleton, Civitas Amor, London: Thomas Archer, “Prince Charles his Creation,”^[8]

     […] the King […] puts the Belt ouer the necke of the Knight, aslope his breast, placing the Sword vnder his left Arme:

   • 1899, Madison Cawein, “The Last Song” in Myth and Romance, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, pp. 29-30,^[9]

     A lute, aslope

     The curious baldric of his tunic, glints

     With pearl-reflections of the moon,

Anagrams

• El Paso

English

Etymology

Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectical slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintan?. Probably influenced by aslant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?slænt/, /?sl??nt/
• Hyphenation: slant
• Rhymes: -ænt, -??nt

Noun

slant (plural slants)

1. A slope; an incline, inclination.

2. A sloped surface or line.
3. (mining) A run: a heading driven diagonally between the dip and strike of a coal seam.
4. (typography) Synonym of slash ??/??, particularly in its use to set off pronunciations from other text.
5. An oblique movement or course.
6. (biology) A sloping surface in a culture medium.
7. A pan with a sloped bottom used for holding paintbrushes.
8. A container or surface bearing shallow sloping areas to hold watercolours.
9. (US, obsolete) A sarcastic remark; shade, an indirect mocking insult.
10. (slang) An opportunity, particularly to go somewhere.
11. (Australia, slang) A crime committed for the purpose of being apprehended and transported to a major settlement.
12. (originally US) A point of view, an angle.

    Synonym: bias

13. (US) A look, a glance.
14. (US, ethnic slur, derogatory) A person with slanting eyes, particularly an East Asian.

Synonyms

• (typography): See slash

Derived terms

• downslant
• slant bar
• slant height
• slant line
• slant of wind
• slant rhyme
• slant sight

Related terms

• slent

Translations

Verb

slant (third-person singular simple present slants, present participle slanting, simple past and past participle slanted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To lean, tilt or incline.

   If you slant the track a little more, the marble will roll down it faster.

   • 1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture

     On the side of yonder slanting hill

2. (transitive) To bias or skew.

   The group tends to slant its policies in favor of the big businesses it serves.

3. (Scotland, intransitive) To lie or exaggerate.

Related terms

• aslant
• slent

Translations

Adjective

slant

1. Sloping; oblique; slanted.
   • 2015, Michael Z. Williamson, A Long Time Until Now

     By the eighth day, Alexander and Caswell had lashed together a hut with a slant roof […]

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• lants