aslopeadj.adv.

Etymology: Evidence is wanting to show the exact history of this, and its relation to slope n.¹; probably it is later form of Old English aslopen , past participle of aslúpan , lit. ‘slipped away’ (compare awake , acale = Old English awacen , acalen ); but it may be < the simple slope adjective (itself apparently = Old English slopen ‘slipped’) with a- prefix³. See slope adj.Difficulty attaches to either derivation, as well as to that of slope itself, from the want of instances of slopen, aslopen, or the verbs to which they belonged, between the Old English period and the 15th cent.; the second has the additional difficulty that, so far as evidence goes, slope appeared still later than aslope, and may have been an aphetic form. Slope verb and noun are comparatively recent derivatives of slope adjective. In the absence of evidence, it is impossible to say whether aslope is primarily an adverb, like alive, afloat, or a participial adjective which only follows its noun, like awake, athirst, since these two classes of words run together in use.