SLOPE

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English sloop, probably from a~, adverb, at an angle Date: 15th century that slants ; sloping, II. verb (~d; sloping) Date: 1591 intransitive verb to take an oblique course, to lie or fall in a slant ; incline , go , travel , transitive verb to cause to incline or slant, ~r noun III. noun Date: circa 1568 ground that forms a natural or artificial incline, upward or downward slant or inclination or degree of slant, the part of a continent draining to a particular ocean , 4. the tangent of the angle made by a straight line with the x-axis, the ~ of the line tangent to a plane curve at a point