Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

o·blique       (ō-blēk', ə-blēk')  Pronunciation Key  adj.   Having a slanting or sloping direction, course, or position; inclined. Mathematics Designating geometric lines or planes that are neither parallel nor perpendicular. Indirect or evasive: oblique political maneuvers. Devious, misleading, or dishonest: gave oblique answers to the questions. Botany Having sides of unequal length or form: an oblique leaf. Anatomy Situated in a slanting position; not transverse or longitudinal: oblique muscles or ligaments. Indirect or evasive: oblique political maneuvers. Devious, misleading, or dishonest: gave oblique answers to the questions. Not direct in descent; collateral. Grammar Designating any noun case except the nominative or the vocative. n.   An oblique thing, such as a line, direction, or muscle. Nautical The act of changing course by less than 90°. adv.   (ō-blīk', ə-blīk') At an angle of 45°. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin oblīquus.] o·blique'ly adv., o·blique'ness n.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
oblique 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

oblique
adjective
1.	slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled; "the oblique rays of the winter sun"; "acute and obtuse angles are oblique angles"; "the axis of an oblique cone is not perpendicular to its base" [ant: parallel, perpendicular]
2.	indirect in departing from the accepted or proper way; misleading; "used devious means to achieve success"; "gave oblique answers to direct questions"; "oblique political maneuvers" [syn: devious]
noun
1.	any grammatical case other than the nominative [ant: nominative]
2.	a diagonally arranged abdominal muscle on either side of the torso [syn: external oblique muscle]

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

oblique o·blique (ō-blēk', ə-blēk')
adj.
Situated in a slanting position; not transverse or longitudinal.

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o·blique'ness n.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Oblique

Ob*lique"\, a. [F., fr. L. obliquus; ob (see Ob-) + liquis oblique; cf. licinus bent upward, Gr ? slanting.] [Written also oblike.]

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. --Cheyne.

2. 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.

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. --Baker.

Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc.

Oblique arch (Arch.), 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, n.

Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n.

Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane.

Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at.

Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. --Wilhelm.

Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other.

Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it.

Oblique motion (Mus.), 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 (Anat.), 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 (Naut.), 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 (Rhet.), 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 (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25[deg]. It is not now practiced. --Wilhelm.

Oblique system of co["o]rdinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the co["o]rdinate axes are oblique to each other.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Oblique

Ob*lique"\, n. (Geom.) An oblique line.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Oblique

Ob*lique"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Obliqued; p. pr. & vb. n. Obliquing.]

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. (Mil.) 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.