oblique

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: F., fr. L. obliquus; ob (see Ob-) + liquis oblique; cf. licinus bent upward, Gr. λέχριος slanting.

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.— George Cheyne

2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister.

The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends.— Michael Drayton

This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power.— Thomas DeQuincey

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.— Sir Richard Baker

Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle, Ascension, etc. — Oblique arch Architecture, an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. — Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, noun — Oblique case Grammar, any case except the nominative. See Case, noun — Oblique circle Projection, a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. — Oblique fire Military, a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. — Oblique flank Fortification, that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Thomas Wilhelm — Oblique leaf. Botany (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. — Oblique line Geometry, a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. — Oblique motion Music, a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. — Oblique muscle Anatomy, a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; — applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. — Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. — Oblique planes Dialing, planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. — Oblique sailing Nautical, the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. — Oblique speech Rhetoric, speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. — Oblique sphere Astron. & Geog., the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. — Oblique step Military, a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25°. It is not now practiced. Thomas Wilhelm — Oblique system of coordinates Anal. Geom., a system in which the coordinate axes are oblique to each other.

Geometry An oblique line.

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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54