oblique
oxford
views updated May 17 2018o·blique / əˈblēk; ōˈblēk/ •
adj. 1. neither parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line; slanting: we sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. ∎ not explicit or direct in addressing a point: he issued an oblique attack on the president. ∎ Geom. (of a line, plane figure, or surface) inclined at other than a right angle. ∎ Geom. (of an angle) acute or obtuse. ∎ Geom. (of a cone, cylinder, etc.) with an axis not perpendicular to the plane of its base. ∎ Anat. (esp. of a muscle) neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.2. Gram. denoting any case other than the nominative or vocative.•
n. 1. a muscle neither parallel nor perpendicular to the long axis of a body or limb.2. Brit. another term for slash1 (sense 2).DERIVATIVES: o·blique·ly adv.o·blique·ness n.o·bliq·ui·ty / əˈblikwətē/ n.
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
OBLIQUE
oxford
views updated Jun 08 2018OBLIQUE, also diagonal, oblique dash, oblique stroke, slash, solidus, virgule. The
PUNCTUATION MARK (/), a forward-sloping line used in writing and printing. The device has six main uses: (1) To indicate vulgar fractions (
23/24 for
twenty-three twenty fourths) and ratios (
miles/hour for
miles per hour). (2) As part of certain abbreviations and related symbols, such as
c/o care of,
i/c in charge, and the percentage sign %. (3) To mark the ends of lines of poetry when set in a prose text (as in
Tyger Tyger,
burning bright / In the forests of the night). (4) To unite alternatives as in
and/or,
colour/color,
his/her, and
s/he (for ‘she or he’). (5) To indicate routes, as in
London/New York/San Francisco. (6) In
PHONETICS, to mark off phonemic transcription, as in /wik/, denoting the pronunciation of the words
week and
weak. The reverse oblique (\), is known as a
back-slash.
Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language TOM McARTHUR
oblique
oxford
views updated May 14 2018oblique having a slanting or sloping direction XV; (gram.) XVI. — (O)F. — L.
oblīquus, f.
OB- + obscure el.
So
obliquity divergence from moral rectitude XV; oblique direction XVI.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD