Word.ws English Dictionary

aslope

/əˈsləʊp//əˈsloʊp/

aslope adjective: slanted, sloping.

Adjective

aslope (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Slanted, sloping.
    • VVhere Porters Hogſheads roll from Carts aſlope, / Or Brevvers dovvn ſteep Cellars ſtretch the Rope, / VVhere counted Billets are by Carmen toſt; / Stay thy raſh Steps, and vvalk vvithout the Poſt.[1716], [John] Gay, “Book II. Of Walking the Streets by Day.”, in Trivia: Or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, London: […] Bernard Lintott, […], →OCLC, page 27
    • [S]o / Do these upbear the little world below / Of Education,—Patience, Love, and Hope. / Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show, / The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope, / And robes that touching as adown they flow, / Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow.1830, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “[Sibylline Leaves.] Love, Hope, and Patience in Education.”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co....

Adverb

aslope (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Sloping, in a sloping manner; slanted along a slope.
    • 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 / so that they were the letters^([sic – meaning fetters?]) of the other whiche were on fote, that they myght not exercyse theyr...1516, Robert Fabyan, “Godfrey de la Conduyt”, in Fabyans Cronycle Newly Prynted, wyth the Cronycle, Actes, and Dedes Done in the Tyme of the Reygne of the Moste Excellent Prynce Kynge Henry the VII....
    • If a ſarcell, or other feathers be broken aboue the quyll, towards the poynt of yͤ fethers twoo or three fingers bredth, you muſt cut it off with a ſharpe penknife, aſlope, and (as they ſay) a ſwaſhe, ⁊ then take another feather to the ſame, cutting it in like manner, as you did the other, ſo as it...1575, George Turberuile [i.e.. George Turberville], “The Way and Manner, Howe to Ympe a Hawkes Feather, Howsoeuer It be Broken or Broosed”, in The Booke of Faulconrie or Hauking, for the Onely...
  2. (archaic, figuratively) Indirectly, obliquely.
    • [N]euertheleſſe he would that point ſhould be leſſe and more finely and cloſely handled, not euen fully playne and directly, but touched a ſlope craftily, as though men ſpared in that point to ſpeake al the truth for feare of his diſpleaſure.1569, Richard Grafton, “Edwarde the Fift”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye...
  3. (archaic, figuratively) In an unfavourable or unintended direction.
    • [H]e gan fovvly vvyte / His vvicked fortune, that had turnd aſlope, / And curſed night, that reſt from him ſo goodly ſcope.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 52, page 459
    • On mee the Curſe aſlope / Glanc'd on the ground, vvith labour I muſt earne / My bread; vvhat harm? Idleneſs had bin vvorſe, / My labour vvill ſuſtain me; […]1674, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 282
    Synonyms:
    off course

Preposition

aslope

  1. (archaic) Diagonally across or over; aslant.
    • [T]he King, […] puts the Belt ouer the necke of the Knight, aſlope his breaſt, placing the Svvord vnder his left Arme: […]1616 November 14 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [Thomas Middleton], “Prince Charles His Creation”, in Civitatis Amor. The Cities Loue. An Entertainement by Water, at Chelsey, and...
    • A lute, aslope / The curious baldric of his tunic, glints / With pearl-reflections of the moon, that seem / The silent ghosts of long-dead melodies.1899, Madison Cawein, “[Visions and Voices] The Last Song”, in Myth and Romance: Being a Book of Verses, New York, N.Y.; London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons […], →OCLC, pages 29–30
    Synonyms:
    athwart

Examples of aslope in a sentence

  • The steps of the cottage door […] are now all aslope and broken, not repaired for years.1860, John Ruskin, “The Task of the Least”, in Modern Painters […], volume V, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part VIII (Of Ideas...
  • 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.1911 March 25, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Honour of Israel Gow”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell...

Synonyms of aslope

All synonyms of aslope

Origin of aslope

From Middle English aslop, aslope (“at an angle or slant; aside”); further etymology uncertain, probably either: * from Old English āslopen (“slipped away”), the past participle of āslūpan (“to slip away”), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; off; out’) + slūpan (“to glide, slip”) (from Proto-West Germanic *sleupan (“to move stealthily, creep, sneak”), from Proto-Germanic *sleupaną (“to move stealthily, creep, sneak”), probably either from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“to glide, slide, slip”) or *slewp- (“to glide, slip”)); or * from Middle English a- + *slope (adjective). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the adjective slope (now obsolete) is attested later than aslope and is probably an aphetic form of the latter. The adverb is more common than the adjective.

Words formed from aslope

Words that rhyme with aslope

14 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about aslope

What does aslope mean?
Aslope means slanted, sloping.
How do you use aslope in a sentence?
The steps of the cottage door […] are now all aslope and broken, not repaired for years.
What part of speech is aslope?
Aslope can be an adjective, an adverb or a preposition.
How do you pronounce aslope?
Aslope is pronounced /əˈsləʊp/ (UK).

Words near aslope in the dictionary

  1. aslither
  2. ASLO
  3. Aslockton
  4. Aslong
  5. aslop
  6. aslope
  7. aslosh
  8. ASLR
  9. aslug
  10. Aslum
  11. aslumber

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aslope (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “aslope.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aslope. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.