Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - slope

 I. adjective  Etymology: Middle English sloop, probably from a~, adverb, at an angle  Date: 15th century that slants ; sloping — often used in combination ~-sided  II. verb  (~d; sloping)  Date: 1591  intransitive verb  1. to take an oblique course  2. to lie or fall in a slant ; incline  3. go, travel ~s off into the night — Wolcott Gibbs  transitive verb to cause to incline or slant  • ~r noun  III. noun  Date: circa 1568  1. ground that forms a natural or artificial incline  2. upward or downward slant or inclination or degree of slant  3. the part of a continent draining to a particular ocean Alaska's North Slope  4.  a. the tangent of the angle made by a straight line with the x-axis  b. the ~ of the line tangent to a plane curve at a point