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angle1

[ang-guh l]
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noun
  1. Geometry.
    1. the space within two lines or three or more planes diverging from a common point, or within two planes diverging from a common line.
    2. the figure so formed.
    3. the amount of rotation needed to bring one line or plane into coincidence with another, generally measured in radians or in degrees, minutes, and seconds, as in 12° 10prime; 30″, which is read as 12 degrees, 10 minutes, and 30 seconds.
  2. an angular projection; a projecting corner: the angles of a building.
  3. a viewpoint; standpoint: He looked at the problem only from his own angle.
  4. Journalism.
    1. slant(def 11).
    2. the point of view from which copy is written, especially when the copy is intended to interest a particular audience: The financial editor added a supplementary article from the investor's angle.
  5. one aspect of an event, problem, subject, etc.: The accountant emphasized the tax angle of the leasing arrangement.
  6. Movies, Photography. angle shot.
  7. Informal. a secret motive: She's been too friendly lately—what's her angle?
  8. Astrology. any of the four interceptions of the equatorial circle by the two basic axes, the horizon and the meridian: commonly identified by the compass directions.
  9. angle iron(def 2).
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verb (used with object), an·gled, an·gling.
  1. to move or bend in an angle.
  2. to set, fix, direct, or adjust at an angle: to angle a spotlight.
  3. Journalism. to write or edit in such a way as to appeal to a particular audience; slant: She angled her column toward teenagers.
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verb (used without object), an·gled, an·gling.
  1. to turn sharply in a different direction: The road angles to the right.
  2. to move or go in angles or at an angle: The trout angled downstream.
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Idioms
  1. play the angles, Slang. to use every available means to reach one's goal: A second-rate talent can survive only by playing all the angles.
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Origin of angle1

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin angulus, of unclear orig.
Can be confusedangel angle

angle2

[ang-guh l]
verb (used without object), an·gled, an·gling.
  1. to fish with hook and line.
  2. to attempt to get something by sly or artful means; fish: to angle for a compliment.
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noun
  1. Archaic. a fishhook or fishing tackle.
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Origin of angle2

before 900; Middle English v. angelen, noun angel, angul, Old English angel, angul; cognate with Frisian, Dutch angel, Old Saxon, Old High German angul (> German Angel), Old Norse ǫngull; Greek ankýlos bent, Sanskrit ankuśá- hook; akin to Old English anga, Old High German ango, Latin uncus, Greek ónkos hook; relation, if any, to Latin angulus angle1 not clear

Angle

[ang-guh l]
noun
  1. a member of a West Germanic people that migrated from Sleswick to Britain in the 5th century a.d. and founded the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. As early as the 6th century their name was extended to all the Germanic inhabitants of Britain.
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Origin of Angle

< Old English Angle plural (variant of Engle) tribal name of disputed orig.; perhaps akin to angle2 if meaning was fisher folk, coastal dwellers
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

twistcornerintersectionedgeslantdirectionviewpointperspectiveaspectstandpointpointcrookbenddeclinenookforkcuspdivergencedoglegincline

Examples from the Web for angle

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He has lived so long in the Quarter he looks at life from the Parisian angle.

    Ballads of a Bohemian

    Robert W. Service

  • Just what this angle of ascension may be is difficult to determine.

    Flying Machines

    W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell

  • At an angle calculated to intercept the caravan, Kingozi set off down the hill.

    The Leopard Woman

    Stewart Edward White

  • He looked at me out of the angle of his eye to make sure that I was in earnest.

    A Woman Tenderfoot

    Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson

  • He struck heavily, straight for the angle of Woodville's chin.

    The Rock of Chickamauga

    Joseph A. Altsheler

British Dictionary definitions for angle

angle1

noun
  1. the space between two straight lines that diverge from a common point or between two planes that extend from a common line
  2. the shape formed by two such lines or planes
  3. the extent to which one such line or plane diverges from another, measured in degrees or radians
  4. an angular projection or recess; corner
  5. standpoint; point of viewlook at the question from another angle; the angle of a newspaper article
  6. informal a selfish or devious motive or purpose
  7. See angle iron
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verb
  1. to move in or bend into angles or an angle
  2. (tr) to produce (an article, statement, etc) with a particular point of view
  3. (tr) to present, direct, or place at an angle
  4. (intr) to turn or bend in a different directionthe path angled sharply to the left
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Word Origin

C14: from French, from Old Latin angulus corner

angle2

verb (intr)
  1. to fish with a hook and line
  2. (often foll by for) to attempt to gethe angled for a compliment
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noun
  1. obsolete any piece of fishing tackle, esp a hook
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Word Origin

Old English angul fish-hook; related to Old High German ango, Latin uncus, Greek onkos

Angle

noun
  1. a member of a West Germanic people from N Germany who invaded and settled large parts of E and N England in the 5th and 6th centuries a.d
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Word Origin

from Latin Anglus, from Germanic (compare English), an inhabitant of Angul, a district in Schleswig (now Angeln), a name identical with Old English angul hook, angle ², referring to its shape
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for angle

v.1

"to fish with a hook," mid-15c., from Old English angel (n.) "angle, hook, fishhook," related to anga "hook," from PIE *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (see angle (n.)). Cf. Old English angul, Old Norse öngull, Old High German angul, German Angel "fishhook." Figurative sense is recorded from 1580s.

It is but a sory lyfe and an yuell to stand anglynge all day to catche a fewe fisshes. [John Palsgrave, 1530]

Related: Angled; angling.

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n.

"space between intersecting lines," late 14c., from Old French angle "angle, corner," and directly from Latin angulus "an angle, corner," a diminutive form from PIE root *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (cf. Greek ankylos "bent, crooked," Latin ang(u)ere "to compress in a bend, fold, strangle;" Old Church Slavonic aglu "corner;" Lithuanian anka "loop;" Sanskrit ankah "hook, bent," angam "limb;" Old English ancleo "ankle;" Old High German ango "hook"). Angle bracket is 1875 in carpentry; 1956 in typography.

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Angle

member of a Teutonic tribe, Old English, from Latin Angli "the Angles," literally "people of Angul" (Old Norse Öngull), a region in what is now Holstein, said to be so-called for its hook-like shape (see angle (n.)). People from the tribe there founded the kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbia, and East Anglia in 5c. Britain. Their name, rather than that of the Saxons or Jutes, may have become the common one for the whole group of Germanic tribes because their dialect was the first committed to writing.

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v.2

"to move at an angle, to move diagonally or obliquely," 1741, from angle (n.). Related: Angled; angling.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
angle in Medicine

angle

(ăng′gəl)
n.
  1. The figure or space formed by the junction of two lines or planes.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
angle in Science

angle

[ăng′gəl]
  1. A geometric figure formed by two lines that begin at a common point or by two planes that begin at a common line.
  2. The space between such lines or planes, measured in degrees. See also acute angle obtuse angle right angle.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.