What does "bevel" mean?

Bevel: An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; -- called also a bevel square. Gwilt.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Having the slant of a bevel; slanting.
  2. 3.Hence: Morally distorted; not upright. [Poetic] I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel. Shak. A bevel angle, any angle other than one of 90º. -- Bevel wheel, a cogwheel whose working face is oblique to the axis. Knight.
  3. 4.To cut to a bevel angle; to slope the edge or surface of.
  4. 5.To deviate or incline from an angle of 90 Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel. Swift.

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