slant

Etymology

Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectical 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.

noun

1. A slope; an incline, inclination.
   The house was built on a bit of a slant and was never quite level.
2. A sloped surface or line.
3. (mining) A run: a heading driven diagonally between the dip and strike of a coal seam.
4. (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) 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. (originally US) A point of view, an angle.
    It was a well written article, but it had a bit of a leftist slant.
14. (US) A look, a glance.
    All batters looked alike to him—I don't believe he ever took a slant at the averages; 11 March 1916, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post
    `What do you want?' `Just a slant at the weapon,' said Fenner. June 1920, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 213, column 1
15. (US, ethnic slur, derogatory) A person with slanting eyes, particularly an East Asian.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) 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 hill 1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture
2. (transitive) To bias or skew.
   The group tends to slant its policies in favor of the big businesses it serves.
3. (Scotland, intransitive) To lie or exaggerate.

adj

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
   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