oblique

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Derived terms 1.4 Noun 1.5 Verb 2 Italian 2.1 Adjective

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English, oblike, from Latin oblīquus (“‘slanting, sideways, indirect, envious’”)

[edit] Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːk

[edit] Adjective

oblique (comparative more oblique, superlative most oblique)

1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined.
   • It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. - Cheyne.
2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister.
   • The love we bear our friends . . . Hath in it certain oblique ends. - Drayton.
   • This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. - De Quincey.
   • Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. / That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. - Wordworth.
3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral.
   • His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. - Baker.
4. (botany, of leaves) Having the base of the blade asymmetrical, with one side larger or extending further than the other.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Noun

oblique (plural obliques)

1. (geometry) An oblique line.
2. (rare) The punctuation sign "/"

[edit] Verb

to oblique (third-person singular simple present obliques, present participle obliquing, simple past and past participle obliqued)

1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction.
   • Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. - Sir. W. Scott.
2. (military) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; — formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.

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[edit] Italian

[edit] Adjective

oblique f.

1. Feminine plural form of obliquo