Middle English Dictionary Entry
oblīque adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | oblīque adj. Also oblike; pl. obliques. |
| Etymology | OF oblique & L oblīquus. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Slanting, sloping sideways, not parallel; crooked, not straight or direct; ~ thwert, aslant, to one side; (b) indirect, not expressed in a literal manner; (c) gram. as noun pl.: oblique cases.
Associated quotations
a
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)9a/b : Þer bene 4 posicions of musculez: Riȝt, Transuerse, & 2 oblique [Ch.(2): euelong].
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)85b/b : Som [fistules] is riȝt, som oblique or croked [L obliqua].
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)127b/b : Strabosite is tortuose seyng & oblique thwert [Ch.(2): aside lokynge].
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)142b/a : If it [attrition] may not be resolued, be þe naile clouen with esynez or liȝtnesse with an oblique [Ch.(2): goyng aside] fissure.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)2.207 : Ouer the sowthe parte of Ethioppe..the stappes..be oblike and contrarious to theyme whiche dwelle abowte the yle callede Tyle vnder that pole artike.
b
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)4.407 : The office of a poete is to transmute those thynges whiche be doen truly in to other similitudes in oblike figuraciones with pulcritude.
c
- c1450 Battlefield Gram.(Trin-C O.5.4)118 : Prolempcis be made..By the nominatyf case onlych, by obliques onlych, by the nominatyf case and by the obliques.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1500 Add.37075 Accedence (Add 37075)47/99 : For all nowwnys and pronownnys and participillis be þe iijd person, owte-take ego, nos, tu and vos wt her obliquis and the vocatyff case.
Note: Postdates sense (c)