slope

From aslope (adjective, adverb).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sloʊp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sləʊp/

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• Rhymes: -əʊp

A sign indicating a road with a 25% gradient slope in Elenith, Wales

slope (countable and uncountable, plural slopes)

1. An area of ground that tends evenly upward or downward.

   I had to climb a small slope to get to the site.

   a steep slope

2. The degree to which a surface tends upward or downward.

   The road has a very sharp downward slope at that point.

3. (mathematics) The ratio of the vertical and horizontal distances between two points on a line; zero if the line is horizontal, undefined if it is vertical.

   The slope of this line is 0.5

4. (mathematics) The slope of the line tangent to a curve at a given point.

   The slope of a parabola increases linearly with x.

5. The angle a roof surface makes with the horizontal, expressed as a ratio of the units of vertical rise to the units of horizontal length (sometimes referred to as run).

   The slope of an asphalt shingle roof system should be 4:12 or greater.

6. (vulgar, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of Chinese or other East Asian descent.

• (area of ground that tends evenly upward or downward): bank, embankment, gradient, hill, incline
• (degree to which a surface tends upward or downward): gradient
• (mathematics): first derivative, gradient
• (offensive: Chinese person): Chinaman, Chink

slope (third-person singular simple present slopes, present participle sloping, simple past and past participle sloped)

1. (intransitive) To tend steadily upward or downward.

   The road slopes sharply down at that point.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.

   • 1946 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “Isle of Wight Central Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 244:

     St. Lawrence Station is very prettily situated, high cliffs on the left, and the lush vegetation of the Undercliff sloping down to the sea on the right.

2. (transitive) To form with a slope; to give an oblique or slanting direction to; to incline or slant.

   to slope the ground in a garden;   to slope a piece of cloth in cutting a garment

3. (UK, colloquial, usually followed by a preposition) To try to move surreptitiously.

   I sloped in through the back door, hoping my boss wouldn't see me.

   • 2009, David Walliams, Mr Stink:

     She watched him disappear out of sight, before sloping back to her room.

4. (military) To hold a rifle at a slope with forearm perpendicular to the body in front holding the butt, the rifle resting on the shoulder.

   The order was given to "slope arms".

slope (comparative more slope, superlative most slope)

1. (obsolete) Sloping.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     A bank not steep, but gently slope.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Down the slope hills.

slope (comparative more slope, superlative most slope)

1. (obsolete) slopingly
   • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     So promis'd he; and Uriel to his charge
     Return'd on that bright beam , whose point now rais'd ,
     Bore him slope downward to the sun

• LEPOs, Poles, S-pole, eslop, lopes, olpes, poles, spole

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slope

1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of sluipen
2. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of slopen

• sloep, spoel