aslant - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

A drawing of a chisel held aslant (adverb sense 1) to the surface of a piece of wood. (The tool attached to the chisel catches chips of wood removed by the chisel.)

The adverb is derived from Middle English aslant, aslante (“at an angle, in a curve; from the side; (figurative) deviously”),[1] from on slant (“at an angle, obliquely”), from on (“above and touching (something), on; at (a place or position); etc.”, preposition)[2] (from Old English on, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *an (“on, upon; on to”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, on to”)) + slant, slante (“incline, slant”, noun)[3] (probably from Old Norse slent, from Proto-Germanic *slintaną (“to slide; to slip”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slide; to slip; to be slick or slippery”)). By surface analysis, a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’ denoting a condition, manner, or state) +‎ slant.[4]

The adjective and preposition are derived from the adverb.[4]

aslant (comparative more aslant, superlative most aslant)

  1. (archaic, literary) At or on a slant; in a slanting or sloping direction.
    Synonyms: aslope, atilt, diagonally, obliquely
    • 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:
      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, […]
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Twelfth Book of Ovid his Metamorphoses, Wholly Translated”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 447:
      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.
    • 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 85:
      Blovvn all aſlant, a driving daſhing rain, / Peal upon peal redoubling all around, / Shakes it again and faſter to the ground, […]
    • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter II, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 65:
      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.
    • 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:
      A pigeon is not easily brought down—the quills are so stiff and strong that the shot, if it comes aslant, will glance off.
    • 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:
      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.

at or on a slant

aslant (comparative more aslant, superlative most aslant)

  1. (archaic, literary) Slanting, oblique.
    Synonyms: askew, aslope, atilt, diagonal, oblique, slanted; nonorthogonal, unperpendicular
    Antonyms: nonoblique, orthogonal, perpendicular
    Near-synonym: askance

aslant

  1. (archaic, literary) Across or over in a slanting or diagonal direction.
    Synonyms: aslope, athwart, atilt

    • 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:
      There is a VVillovv grovves aſlant a Brooke, / That ſhevves his hore [hoar] leaues in the glaſſie ſtreame: […]
    • 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 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, […]
    • 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:
      Ye Ladies of Lapland vvho beeſoms beſtride, / Or, pair'd in VVitch VVhiſkeys, aſlant the Moon ſlide; […]
    • 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:
      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.
    • 1979, Patrick White, “Part II”, in The Twyborn Affair […], London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 209:
      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.

  2. ^ “aslant(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

  3. ^ “on, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

  4. ^ “slant(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

  5. ↑ 4.0 4.1 “aslant, adv. and prep.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “aslant, prep.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.