aslant

English

WOTD – 29 April 2026

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.)

Etymology

The adverb is derived from Middle English aslant, aslante (“at an angle, in a curve; from the side; (figurative) deviously”), from on slant (“at an angle, obliquely”), from on (“above and touching (something), on; at (a place or position); etc.”, preposition) (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) (probably from Old Norse slent, from Proto-Germanic *slintaną (“to slide; to slip”)). By surface analysis, a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’ denoting a condition, manner, or state) +‎ slant.

The adjective and preposition are derived from the adverb.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈslɑːnt/, /-slænt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈslænt/

• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ɑːnt, -ænt

Adverb

aslant (comparative more aslant, superlative most aslant)

2. (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. […], 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.

   • 2018, Anna Burns, chapter 3, in Milkman, Minneapolis, Minn.: Graywolf Press, →ISBN:

     This time too, […] he was looking aslant and not directly at me; more of a gaze to the side of me.

Derived terms

• aslantwise

Translations

at or on a slant

• Bulgarian: косо (bg) (koso), криво (bg) (krivo)
• Czech: nakřivo, šikmo
• Finnish: kallellaan (fi), vinossa (fi)
• German: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: oblīquē
• Polish: krzywo (pl), na bakier (pl), na skos, na ukos (pl), skosem, ukośnie (pl)
• Russian: под накло́ном (pod naklónom), под углом (ru) (pod uglom)
• Scots: aswaip
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

Adjective

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

   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVII.] Of Furrowes and Trenches wherein Vines are Planted: Also of Pruning Vines.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 533:

     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: […]

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput; […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 94:

     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.

   • 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book IX.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 208, lines 533–535:

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

   • 1814, Robert Southey, “Canto III”, in Roderick the Last of the Goths, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], →OCLC, page 27:

     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, […]

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Virgin”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 400:

     Meantime everything in the Pequod was aslant. To cross to the other side of the deck was like walking up the steep gabled roof of a house.

   • 1961 May, Walker Percy, chapter 1, in The Moviegoer, New York, N.Y.: Popular Library, published May 1962, →OCLC, part 3, page 123:

     Now she stands musing on the beach, leg locked, pelvis aslant, thumb and forefingers propped along the iliac crest and lightly, propped lightly as an athlete.

   • 1979, Patrick White, “Part II”, in The Twyborn Affair […], London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 181:

     [O]n the chest an enamel candle-stick, its broken candle aslant over gobbets of stale wax, on the wall a deal-framed glass to mirror his jaunty disarray.

Translations

slanting, oblique — see slanting,‎ oblique

Preposition

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: […]

     In the Second Quarto (1604), signature M, recto, the word ascaunt (askance) is used instead.

   • 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.

Translations

across or over in a slanting or diagonal direction

• Bulgarian: напреки на (napreki na), на верев (na verev)
• Finnish: poikittain (fi)

Anagrams

• Santal, alants, natals, santal