# slope
## English
### Etymology

From aslope (adjective, adverb).

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /sloʊp/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /sləʊp/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊp

### Noun

slope (countable and uncountable, plural slopes)
* 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
* The degree to which a surface tends upward or downward.
    The road has a very sharp downward slope at that point.
* (mathematics, of a line, with respect to a fixed coordinate system) The ratio of the vertical and horizontal distances between two points lying on the line.
    The slope of this line is 0.5
* (mathematics, of a curve at a given point; sometimes proscribed, see Usage notes) The slope of the line tangent to the curve at the given point.
    The slope of a parabola increases linearly with x.
* 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.
* (vulgar, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of Chinese or other East Asian descent.

#### Usage notes

* In mathematical contexts, lines that are vertical (with respect to a given coordinate system) are said to either have infinite slope, or to have their slope undefined.
* While common in pre-university level mathematics and in introductory calculus, the use of slope to refer to the slope of a tangent line of a curve is proscribed in higher mathematics, where application is restricted to lines.

#### Synonyms

* (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

#### Translations
### Verb

slope (third-person singular simple present slopes, present participle sloping, simple past and past participle sloped)
* (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.
* (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
* (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 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:She watched him disappear out of sight, before sloping back to her room.
* (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".

#### Derived terms

* beginner slope
* bunny slope
* continental slope
* footslope
* glide slope
* hillslope
* low-slope roof
* midslope
* North Slope Borough
* nursery slope
* recurrent slope linea
* sideslope
* ski slope
* ski-slope nose
* ski slope nose
* slippery slope
* slope bunny
* Slope County
* slope dragonet
* slope field
* slope off
* sloping
* South Western Slopes
* South West Slopes
* steep-slope roof
* toeslope

#### Translations
### Adjective

slope (comparative more slope, superlative most slope)
* (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], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Down the slope hills.

### Adverb

slope (comparative more slope, superlative most slope)
* (obsolete) slopingly
** 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →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

### Anagrams

* poles, olpes, S-pole, lopes, eslop, LEPOs, Lopes, spole, Poles

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

slope
* (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of sluipen
* (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of slopen

### Anagrams

* sloep, spoel