Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective At a slant; obliquely.
  • preposition Obliquely over or across.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a slanting or sloping direction; oblique; obliquely; not perpendicularly or at right angles.
  • Slantingly across; athwart.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely.
  • preposition In a slanting direction over; athwart.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective slanting
  • adverb at a slant
  • preposition archaic diagonally over or across

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb at an oblique angle
  • adverb over or across in a slanting direction
  • adjective having an oblique or slanted direction

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a young girl happily cavorts in front of the TV screen broadcasting Elizabeth II's coronation; the moment simultaneously registers a shift in how the English experience their own history and a comical awareness of how "aslant" these experiences might prove to be.

    Three brief reviews 2005

  • In Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a young girl happily cavorts in front of the TV screen broadcasting Elizabeth II's coronation; the moment simultaneously registers a shift in how the English experience their own history and a comical awareness of how "aslant" these experiences might prove to be.

    The Little Professor: 2005

  • Pingback by Tailfeather » Blog Archive » Olive Kitteridge and looking at someone aslant — September 9, 2009 @ 3: 40 pm

    What’s The Fuss About Episodic Fiction? « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • I thought that if Henry remembered the fairy tales from his childhood, he would begin that reentering process, and it seemed to make sense that he would remember it aslant that he would remember the fairy tales in the original German.

    Interview with Keith Donohue 2010

  • And in early America, African slaves invented a form of marriage, "besom wedding" or jumping the broom, in which a couple jumped over a broomstick stuck aslant in a doorway and declared themselves married.

    Arlene M. Roberts: Committed: An Immigration Love Story Arlene M. Roberts 2010

  • For years, people would look aslant at me, when I would make that statement.

    Pee-wee Herman takes Manhattan Melissa Bell 2010

  • And in early America, African slaves invented a form of marriage, "besom wedding" or jumping the broom, in which a couple jumped over a broomstick stuck aslant in a doorway and declared themselves married.

    Arlene M. Roberts: Committed: An Immigration Love Story Arlene M. Roberts 2010

  •            Dropping the paper on the lawn, he turned to watch as Annette rose from the passenger door, her mouth open, jaw aslant.

    Deep Pockets 2010

  • The snake's brow is draped aslant in the tree's glossy leaves, suggesting a comic green beret.

    Ecce viator : Behold the Traveler 2010

  • This is a subject I have spoken to before, but now and then, I get a notion that is either new to me, or comes at the subject slightly aslant of where I was before, so ...

    The Magical Mastery Tour Steve Perry 2010

Comments

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  • Below: a fen where water stood;

    Aslant: their hill of stinging nettle

    from 'Bucolics,' by Sylvia Plath

    April 9, 2008

  • "QUEEN GERTRUDE: There is a willow grows aslant a brook,

    That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;

    There with fantastic garlands did she come

    Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples

    That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,..."

    - Shakespeare, 'Hamlet'.

    October 6, 2008