Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Joining two nonadjacent vertices of a polygon.
  • adjective Joining two vertices of a polyhedron not in the same face.
  • adjective Having a slanted or oblique direction.
  • adjective Having oblique lines or markings.
  • adjective Relating to or being the front left and back right feet or the front right and back left feet of a quadruped.
  • noun Mathematics A diagonal line or plane.
  • noun Something, such as a row, course, or part, that is arranged obliquely.
  • noun A fabric woven with diagonal lines.
  • noun A virgule.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In geometry, extending, as a line, from one angle to another not adjacent, within any figure.
  • Being in an oblique direction; lying obliquely.
  • Marked by oblique lines: as, diagonal cloth.
  • .
  • A soft material used as a ground for embroidery, generally made very wide, and dyed in plain colors without pattern.
  • A material for men's wear, especially for coats and waistcoats.
  • noun A straight line drawn from one angle to or through another, not adjacent, in any plane or solid figure.
  • noun Any oblique line.
  • noun Specifically
  • noun In chess, checkers, etc., a line of squares running diagonally across the board. See chess.
  • noun Same as diagonal cloth, especially in the United States: a term introduced about 1875.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A right line drawn from one angle to another not adjacent, of a figure of four or more sides, and dividing it into two parts.
  • noun (Engin.) A member, in a framed structure, running obliquely across a panel.
  • noun A diagonal cloth; a kind of cloth having diagonal stripes, ridges, or welts made in the weaving.
  • adjective (Geom.) Joining two not adjacent angles of a quadrilateral or multilateral figure; running across from corner to corner; crossing at an angle with one of the sides.
  • adjective (Masonry) herringbone work. See Herringbone, a.
  • adjective (Shipbuilding) built by forming the outer skin of two layers of planking, making angles of about 45° with the keel, in opposite directions.
  • adjective See under Cleavage.
  • adjective (Arch.) a chevron or zigzag molding.
  • adjective (Arch.) See Cross-springer.
  • adjective a scale which consists of a set of parallel lines, with other lines crossing them obliquely, so that their intersections furnish smaller subdivisions of the unit of measure than could be conveniently marked on a plain scale.
  • adjective (Geol.) Same as Cross bedding, under Cross, a.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective geometry Joining two nonadjacent vertices (of a polygon or polyhedron).
  • adjective Having a slanted or oblique direction, lines or markings.
  • adjective Pertaining to the front left and back right (or the front right and back left) legs of a quadruped.
  • noun something arranged diagonally or obliquely
  • noun a line or cut across a fabric that is not at right angles to a side of the fabric
  • noun a punctuation mark used to separate related items of information
  • noun geometry a diagonal line or plane
  • noun geometry a line joining non-adjacent vertices of a polygon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (mathematics) a set of entries in a square matrix running diagonally either from the upper left to lower right entry or running from the upper right to lower left entry
  • noun an oblique line of squares of the same color on a checkerboard
  • noun a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information
  • adjective having an oblique or slanted direction
  • noun (geometry) a straight line connecting any two vertices of a polygon that are not adjacent
  • adjective connecting two nonadjacent corners of a plane figure or any two corners of a solid that are not in the same face
  • noun a line or cut across a fabric that is not at right angles to a side of the fabric

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin diagōnālis, from Greek diagōnios, from angle to angle : dia-, dia- + gōniā, angle, corner; see genu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin diagōnālis, from Ancient Greek διαγώνιος (diagonios, "from angle to angle"), from διά (dia, "across") + γωνία (gonia, "angle").

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Examples

  • No. 419: that the _red diagonal_ members represent the _saltire gules_ of St. Patrick, No. 421, and that the _narrow diagonal white_ lines are added in order to place this _saltire gules on a field argent_: that the

    The Handbook to English Heraldry Charles Boutell 1844

  • A square blanket, twelve feet in diagonal, is provided, (some were wont to cut off the corners, and make it circular;) in the centre a slit is effected, eighteen inches long; through this the mother-naked trooper introduces his head and neck, and so rides shielded from all weather, and in battle from many strokes (for he rolls it about his left arm); and not only dressed, but harnessed and draperied.

    Life in Mexico, During a Residence of Two Years in That Country Frances Erskine Inglis 1843

  • The space itself is a gorgeous gallery, adjacent to a student center (where the panels and demos were held), and diagonal from a Bistro that very kindly opened its doors to host the portfolio reviews and be a general meeting destination throughout the weekend.

    IlluXCon 2 Lou Anders 2009

  • The space itself is a gorgeous gallery, adjacent to a student center (where the panels and demos were held), and diagonal from a Bistro that very kindly opened its doors to host the portfolio reviews and be a general meeting destination throughout the weekend.

    Archive 2009-11-01 Lou Anders 2009

  • There is a strange volume to scenes viewed from on high: real places flatten into forms, space recedes in diagonal lines, and ground and horizon oscillate a magnetic field, one that both attracts and repels the eye.

    Ballardian » Edward Burtynsky: Oil – A Ballardian Interpretation 2010

  • First of all u must understant that the roads of Bucharest are already full of cars that make around 1.30 hours for a simple trip from a part of Bucharest in diagonal … At least!

    Dorobanti Tower by Zaha Hadid Architects 2009

  • I purchased Aunt Millie's (Home style seeded Italian) because they were out of my regular brand (why the heck not its HFCS free) When I got home I wanted to make myself a sandwich, but to my surprise I found some mystery black stuff on my bread in diagonal slashes.

    Searing Sword Of Schmutz Taints Aunt Millie's Bread Loaf - The Consumerist 2008

  • I decided to use a variety of variegated threads - the quilting is going to be my basic flame meander which I tend to work in diagonal rows (approximately) anyway.

    Variegated flames katelnorth 2008

  • From what I can figure, they typically work as follows: A strip of magnetic material to be used as a read-head is pre-magnetized along a direction diagonal from the direction the current will flow, as roughly illustrated below:

    And the Physics Nobel Prize goes to… « Skulls in the Stars 2007

  • Dunlop specifies that the leeks or scallions should be cut on the bias - in diagonal slices; what Sichuanese cuisine vividly refers to as "horse ear" slices.

    Archive 2007-09-01 Nupur 2007

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