The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bias \Bi"as\, a.
   1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bias \Bi"as\, adv.
   In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally; as,
   to cut cloth bias.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bias \Bi"as\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Biased (b[imac]"ast); p. pr.
   & vb. n. Biasing.]
   To incline to one side; to give a particular direction to; to
   influence; to prejudice; to prepossess.
   [1913 Webster]

         Me it had not biased in the one direction, nor should
         it have biased any just critic in the counter
         direction.                               --De Quincey.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bias \Bi"as\ (b[imac]"as), n.; pl. Biases (-[e^]z). [F.
   biasis, perh. fr. LL. bifax two-faced; L. bis + facies face.
   See Bi-, and cf. Face.]
   1. A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of
      bowls, or a tendency imparted to the ball, which turns it
      from a straight line.
      [1913 Webster]

            Being ignorant that there is a concealed bias within
            the spheroid, which will . . . swerve away. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   2. A leaning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward
      an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent;
      inclination.
      [1913 Webster]

            Strong love is a bias upon the thoughts. --South.
      [1913 Webster]

            Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to
            all their actions.                    --Locke.
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   3. A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as
      the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Prepossession; prejudice; partiality; inclination. See
        Bent.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

bias
    adj 1: slanting diagonally across the grain of a fabric; "a bias
           fold"
    n 1: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an
         issue or situation [syn: bias, prejudice,
         preconception]
    2: a line or cut across a fabric that is not at right angles to
       a side of the fabric [syn: diagonal, bias]
    v 1: influence in an unfair way; "you are biasing my choice by
         telling me yours"
    2: cause to be biased [syn: bias, predetermine]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

284 Moby Thesaurus words for "bias":
   a thing for, aberrancy, aberration, across, affect, affinity,
   angle, angle off, animus, aptitude, aptness, aslant, aslope,
   athwart, atilt, bag, bear off, bend, bend to, bendwise, bent,
   bevel, beveled, biased, biaswise, branching off, canting,
   careening, cast, catercorner, catercornered, catercornerways,
   character, chosen kind, circuitousness, color, conatus, conduce,
   conduciveness, constitution, contribute, corner, cornerways,
   cornerwise, crook, crossways, crosswise, cup of tea, curve,
   declination, deflect, delight, departure, detour, deviance,
   deviancy, deviate, deviation, deviousness, diagonal, diagonally,
   diagonalwise, diathesis, diffract, diffuse, digression,
   discrimination, discursion, disperse, dispose, disposition,
   distort, divagate, divagation, divarication, diverge, divergence,
   diversion, divert, dogleg, double, drift, drifting, druthers,
   eagerness, eccentricity, errantry, excursion, excursus,
   exorbitation, fancy, fascination, favor, favoritism, feeling for,
   forejudgment, garble, go, grain, hairpin, have a tendency, head,
   idiosyncrasy, impulse, inclination, inclinational, inclinatory,
   incline, inclined, inclining, indirection, individualism, induce,
   inequality, influence, interest, involvement, jaundice,
   jaundiced eye, kidney, kittycorner, lead, lean, leaning, liability,
   liking, listing, look to, lurch, make, makeup, mental set, mettle,
   mind, mind-set, misconstrue, misdirect, misinterpret, misrender,
   misrepresent, misuse, mold, move, mutual affinity,
   mutual attraction, nature, nepotism, oblique, oblique angle,
   oblique figure, oblique line, obliquity, on the bias,
   one-sidedness, out of plumb, out of square, parti pris, partialism,
   partiality, particular choice, partisanism, partisanship, penchant,
   pererration, personal choice, persuade, pervert, pitched, point,
   point to, preconception, predilection, predispose, predisposition,
   preference, preferential treatment, prejudgment, prejudice,
   prejudice against, prejudice the issue, prepossess, prepossession,
   probability, proclivity, prompt, proneness, propensity, pull,
   raking, rambling, readiness, recumbent, redound to, refract,
   rhomboid, scatter, scratch comma, sensitivity to, separatrix,
   serve, set, set toward, sheer, shelving, shelvy, shift, shifting,
   shifting course, shifting path, show a tendency, sideling,
   sidelong, skew, slant, slanted, slanting, slantways, slantwise,
   slash, sloped, sloping, slue, soft spot, soften up, solidus, stamp,
   standpoint, strain, straying, streak, stripe, style,
   susceptibility, sway, sweep, swerve, swerving, swinging, sympathy,
   tack, taint, taste, temper, temperament, tend, tendency, thing,
   thwart, tilted, tilting, tinge, tipped, tipping, tipsy, tone,
   torture, transverse, trend, tropism, turn, turn of mind, turning,
   twist, type, undetachment, undispassionateness, unneutrality,
   variation, varnish, veer, verge, viewpoint, virgule, wandering,
   warp, weakness, wear down, weigh with, weight, willingness, work,
   work toward, yaw, zigzag



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

BIAS. A particular influential power which sways the judgment; the
inclination or propensity of the mind towards a particular object.
     2. Justice requires that the judge should have no bias for or against
any individual; and that his mind should be perfectly free to act as the law
requires.
     3. There is, however, one kind of bias which the courts suffer to
influence them in their judgments it is a bias favorable to a class of
cases, or persons, as distinguished from an individual case or person. A few
examples will explain this. A bias is felt on account of convenience. 1 Ves.
sen. 13, 14; 3 Atk. 524. It is also felt in favor of the heir at law, as
when there is an heir on one side and a mere volunteer on the other. Willes,
R. 570 1 W. Bl. 256; Amb. R. 645; 1 Ball & B. 309 1 Wils. R. 310 3 Atk. 747
Id. 222. On the other hand, the court leans against double portions for
children; M'Clell. R. 356; 13 Price, R. 599 against double provisions, and
double satisfactions; 3 Atk. R. 421 and against forfeitures. 3 T. R. 172.
Vide, generally, 1 Burr. 419 1 Bos. & Pull. 614; 3 Bos. & Pull. 456 Ves. jr.
648 Jacob, Rep. 115; 1 Turn. & R. 350.