Bevel

Word of the Day for Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bevel \BEV-uhl\, adverb:

1. irresolutely.

noun:
1. the inclination that one line or surface makes with another when not at right angles.
2. a surface that does not form a right angle with adjacent surfaces.
3. (of a lock bolt) the oblique end that hits the strike plate.
4. (of a lock with a beveled bolt) the side facing in the same direction as the bevel at the end of the bolt.
5. bevel square.
6. an adjustable instrument for drawing angles or adjusting the surface of work to a particular inclination.
7. Printing. beard (def. 5).

verb:
1. to cut or slant at a bevel: to bevel an edge to prevent splintering.

adjective:
1. Also, beveled; especially British, bevelled. oblique; sloping; slanted.

One edge was rough and jagged, but from that edge, the stone had been worked into a smooth, clean semicircular curve, its edges trimmed in a simple bevel.
-- John Saul, Hellfire, 2010

Gives them a sort of three-D effect. The plus-one must be the width of the bevel.
-- Ellen Ullman, The Bug, 2003

The origin of bevel, which entered English in the 1500s, is uncertain, though it could possibly come from the Old French term biaiser meaning "to slope" or "to make slanting." It is unclear which came first: the adjective or the noun form.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com