aslope

English

Etymology

From Middle English aslope, probably from or akin to Old English āslopen, past participle of Old English āslūpan (“to slip away”), from a- + slupan (“to slip”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈsləʊp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊp

Adjective

aslope (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Slanted or sloping.

   Synonyms: diagonal, oblique

   • 1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Love, Hope, and Patience in Education”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge‎^[1], volume 3, London: William Pickering, published 1834, page 331:

     Methinks, I see them group’d in seemly show,
     The straiten’d arms uprais’d, the palms aslope,

   • 1911, G. K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown, The Honor of Israel Gow

     Far as the eye could see, farther and farther as they mounted the slope, were seas beyond seas of pines, now all aslope one way under the wind.

Adverb

aslope (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Slanted or sloping.

   Synonyms: diagonally, obliquely

   • 1516, Robert Fabyan, Fabyan’s Chronicle‎^[2], London: William Rastell, published 1533, Part 7:

     But the Flemynges with theyr arbalasters and theyr longe mareys pykes set aslope before them wounded so theyr horses, that they lay tumbelynge one in the others necke […]

   • 1674, Charles Cotton, chapter 5, in The Compleat Gamester‎^[3], London: R. Cutler, page 55:

     The Bishop walks always in the same colour of the field that he is first placed in, forward and backward asloap every way as far as he lists;

   • 1710, Jonathan Swift, “A Description of a City Shower”, in Miscellanies‎^[4], volume 4, London: Benjamin Motte, published 1733, page 141:

     Brisk Susan whips her Linnen from the Rope,
     While the first drizzling Show’r is born aslope,

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 134, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 617:

     While the two crews were yet circling in the waters […] , while aslope little Flask bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitching his legs upward to escape the dreaded jaws of sharks;

2. (archaic, figurative) In an unintended or unfavourable direction.

   Synonym: off course

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 459:

     His wicked fortune, that had turnd aslope

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     […] On mee the Curse aslope
     Glanc’d on the ground, with labour I must earne
     My bread; what harm?

Preposition

aslope

1. (archaic) Diagonally over or across.

   Synonyms: aslant, athwart

   • 1616, Thomas Middleton, Civitas Amor, London: Thomas Archer, “Prince Charles his Creation,”^[5]

     […] the King […] puts the Belt ouer the necke of the Knight, aslope his breast, placing the Sword vnder his left Arme:

   • 1899, Madison Cawein, “The Last Song”, in Myth and Romance‎^[6], New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, pages 29–30:

     A lute, aslope
     The curious baldric of his tunic, glints
     With pearl-reflections of the moon,

Anagrams

• El Paso, paleos