Etymology Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectal slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintaną. Probably influenced by aslant.
The house was built on a bit of a slant and was never quite level.
2
A sloped surface or line.
3
Business, Mining A run: a heading driven diagonally between the dip and strike of a coal seam.
4
Media, Publishing, Typography Synonym of slash ⟨ / ⟩, particularly in its use to set off pronunciations from other text.
Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like slant, slant line, slash, and slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as diagonal and diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation oblique.[1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240:
5
An oblique movement or course.
6
Biology, Natural sciences A sloping surface in a culture medium.
7
A pan with a sloped bottom used for holding paintbrushes.
8
A depression on a palette with a sloping bottom for holding and mixing watercolours.
9
A palette or similar container with slants or sloping depressions.
10
US, Obsolete A sarcastic remark; shade, an indirect mocking insult.
11
Slang An opportunity, particularly to go somewhere.
12
Australia, Slang A crime committed for the purpose of being apprehended and transported to a major settlement.
13
A point of view, an angle.
It was a well written article, but it had a bit of a leftist slant.
All batters looked alike to him—I don't believe he ever took a slant at the averages;1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post:
`What do you want?' `Just a slant at the weapon,' said Fenner.1920 June 23, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 213, column 1:
Etymology Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectal slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintaną. Probably influenced by aslant.
1
Ambitransitive To lean, tilt or incline.
If you slant the track a little more, the marble will roll down it faster.
On the side of yonder slanting hill1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture:
2
To bias or skew.
The group tends to slant its policies in favor of the big businesses it serves.
Etymology Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectal slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintaną. Probably influenced by aslant.
1
Sloping; oblique; slanted.
The Laplander beholds the far-off Sun Dart his slant beam on unobeying snows, […]1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Destiny of Nations:
A slant ray of golden sunshine entered the chamber; it drew nearer and nearer as the hour went by, till it fell on Guido's bed.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 308:
1 more example
By the eighth day, Alexander and Caswell had lashed together a hut with a slant roof […]2015, Michael Z. Williamson, A Long Time Until Now: