- slant (n.)
- 1650s, from slant (v.). Derogatory slang sense of "Oriental, slant-eyed person" is recorded from 1943, from earlier slant-eyes (1929).
- slant (v.)
- 1520s, "to strike obliquely" (against something), alteration of slenten "slip sideways" (c.1300), perhaps via a Scandinavian source (cf. Swedish slinta "to slip," Norwegian slenta "to fall on one side"), from Proto-Germanic *slintanan. Sense of "to slope" is first recorded 1690s. Related: Slanted; slanting. The adjective/adverb is attested from late 15c. Slant rhyme attested from 1944.