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.
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.
2. Anything shaped more or less like a mathematical cone; as,
a volcanic cone, a collection of scori[ae] around the
crater of a volcano, usually heaped up in a conical form.
Now had Night measured with her shadowy cone Half
way up hill this vast sublunar vault. --Milton.
3. (Bot.) The fruit or strobile of the {Conifer[ae]}, as of
the pine, fir, cedar, and cypress. It is composed of woody
scales, each one of which has one or two seeds at its
base.
4. (Zo["o]l.) A shell of the genus {Conus}, having a conical
form.
{Cone of rays} (Opt.), the pencil of rays of light which
proceed from a radiant point to a given surface, as that
of a lens, or conversely.
{Cone pulley}. See in the Vocabulary.
{Oblique} or {Scalene cone}, a cone of which the axis is
inclined to the plane of its base.