aslant

adv

1. (archaic, literary)At or on a slant; in a slanting or sloping direction.

   “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, […]”

   “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.”

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

   “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.”

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

adj

1. (archaic, literary)Slanting, oblique.

   “Near-synonym: askance”

   “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: […]”

   “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.”

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

   “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, […]”

prep

1. (archaic, literary)Across or over in a slanting or diagonal direction.

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

   “[…] 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, […]”

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

   “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.”

   “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.”