Oblique

English

French, from Latin obliquus; ob (see Ob-) + liquis oblique; confer licinus bent upward, Gr slanting.

oblique

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. - Cheyne.
Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister.
- The love we bear our friends . . . Hath in it certain oblique ends. - Drayton.
- This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. - De Quincey.
- Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye.
  That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. - Wordworth.
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. - Baker.

(Ob*lique"), (Geom.)

(Ob*lique"), intransitive [imp. & p. p. Obliqued; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliquing.]

To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction.
Quotations
- Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. - Sir. W. Scott.
(Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; â formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half- facing either to the right or left.