OBLI'QUE, OBLI'QUELY, adverb 1. In a line deviating from a right line; not directly; not perpendicularly. Declining from the noon of day, the sun obliquely shoots his burning ray. 2. Indirectly; by a side glance; by an allusion; not in the direct or plain meaning. His discourse tends obliquely to the detracting from others.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI