aslope

adj

1. (archaic, not-comparable)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.”

   “[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.”

   “The steps of the cottage door […] are now all aslope and broken, not repaired for years.”

   “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.”

adv

1. (archaic, not-comparable)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 feat of armes.”

   “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 may fitte with yͤ ſame feather, both for length and cutte.”

   “Feare cauſeth Paleneſſe; Trembling; The Standing of the Haire vpright; Starting; and Skritching. […] Standing Vpright of the Haire is cauſed, for that by the Shutting of the Pores of the Skin, the Haire that lyeth aſloape, muſt needs Riſe.”

   “The Biſhop vvalks alvvays in the same colour of the field that he is firſt placed in, forvvard and backvvard aſloap every vvay as far as he liſts; provided, that the vvay be clear betvveen him and the place he intends to go to: […]”

   “Mean vvhile the South riſing vvith dabbled VVings, / A Sable Cloud a-thavvrt the VVelkin flings, / That ſvvill'd more Liquor than it could contain, / And like a Drunkard gives it up again. / Briſk Suſan vvhips her Linen from the Rope, / VVhile the firſt drizzling Shovv’r is born aſlope, […]”

2. (archaic, figuratively, not-comparable)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.”

3. (archaic, figuratively, not-comparable)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.”

   “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; […]”

prep

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: […]”

   “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.”