Adjacent Words

Bias definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BI'AS, n.
1. A weight on the side of a bowl which turns it from a straight line.
2. A leaning of the mind; inclination; prepossession; propensity towards an object, not leaving the mind indifferent; as, education gives a bias to the mind.
3. That which causes the mind to lean or incline from a state of indifference, to a particular object or course.
BI'AS, v.t. To incline to one side; to warp; to give a particular direction to the mind; to prejudice; to prepossess. The judgment is often biassed by interest.
This word is used by Shakespeare as an adverb, bias and thwart,i.e. aslope; and as an adjective.
Blow till they bias cheek
Outswell the cholic of puft Aquilon.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: slanting diagonally across the grain of a fabric; "a bias fold" n
1: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation [syn: bias, prejudice, preconception]
2: a line or cut across a fabric that is not at right angles to a side of the fabric [syn: diagonal, bias] v
1: influence in an unfair way; "you are biasing my choice by telling me yours"
2: cause to be biased [syn: bias, predetermine]

Merriam Webster's

geographical name — see Beas

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle French biais Date: 1530 1. a line diagonal to the grain of a fabric; especially a line at a 45 degree angle to the selvage often utilized in the cutting of garments for smoother fit 2. a. a peculiarity in the shape of a bowl that causes it to swerve when rolled on the green in lawn bowling b. the tendency of a bowl to swerve; also the impulse causing this tendency c. the swerve of the bowl 3. a. bent, tendency b. an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment ; prejudice c. an instance of such prejudice d. (1) deviation of the expected value of a statistical estimate from the quantity it estimates (2) systematic error introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others 4. a. a voltage applied to a device (as a transistor control electrode) to establish a reference level for operation b. a high-frequency voltage combined with an audio signal to reduce distortion in tape recording Synonyms: see predilection II. adjective Date: 1551 diagonal, slanting — used chiefly of fabrics and their cut • biasness noun III. adverb Date: 1575 1. diagonally <cut cloth bias> 2. obsolete awry IV. transitive verb (biased or biassed; biasing or biassing) Date: circa 1628 1. to give a settled and often prejudiced outlook to <his background biases him against foreigners> 2. to apply a slight negative or positive voltage to (as a transistor) Synonyms: see incline

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 (often foll. by towards, against) a predisposition or prejudice. 2 Statistics a systematic distortion of a statistical result due to a factor not allowed for in its derivation. 3 an edge cut obliquely across the weave of a fabric. 4 Sport a the irregular shape given to a bowl. b the oblique course this causes it to run. 5 Electr. a steady voltage, magnetic field, etc., applied to an electronic system or device. --v.tr. (biased, biasing; biassed, biassing) 1 (esp. as biased adj.) influence (usu. unfairly); prejudice. 2 give a bias to. Phrases and idioms: bias binding a strip of fabric cut obliquely and used to bind edges. on the bias obliquely, diagonally. Etymology: F biais, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bias Bi"as (b[imac]"as), n.; pl. Biases (-[e^]z). [F. biasis, perh. fr. LL. bifax two-faced; L. bis + facies face. See Bi-, and cf. Face.] 1. A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of bowls, or a tendency imparted to the ball, which turns it from a straight line. Being ignorant that there is a concealed bias within the spheroid, which will . . . swerve away. --Sir W. Scott. 2. A leaning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent; inclination. Strong love is a bias upon the thoughts. --South. Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to all their actions. --Locke. 3. A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference. 4. A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias. Syn: Prepossession; prejudice; partiality; inclination. See Bent.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bias Bi"as, a. 1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bias Bi"as, adv. In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally; as, to cut cloth bias.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bias Bi"as, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Biased (b[imac]"ast); p. pr. & vb. n. Biasing.] To incline to one side; to give a particular direction to; to influence; to prejudice; to prepossess. Me it had not biased in the one direction, nor should it have biased any just critic in the counter direction. --De Quincey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(biases, biasing, biased) 1. Bias is a tendency to prefer one person or thing to another, and to favour that person or thing. Bias against women permeates every level of the judicial system... There were fierce attacks on the BBC for alleged political bias. = prejudice N-VAR: usu with supp 2. Bias is a concern with or interest in one thing more than others. The Department has a strong bias towards neuroscience. N-VAR: with supp 3. To bias someone means to influence them in favour of a particular choice. We mustn't allow it to bias our teaching. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Inclination, bent, leaning, tendency, predilection, prepossession, proclivity, proneness, propensity, partiality, prejudice disposition, predisposition, turn, penchant. II. v. a. Influence, incline, prejudice, dispose, predispose, bend.

Moby Thesaurus

a thing for, aberrancy, aberration, across, affect, affinity, angle, angle off, animus, aptitude, aptness, aslant, aslope, athwart, atilt, bag, bear off, bend, bend to, bendwise, bent, bevel, beveled, biased, biaswise, branching off, canting, careening, cast, catercorner, catercornered, catercornerways, character, chosen kind, circuitousness, color, conatus, conduce, conduciveness, constitution, contribute, corner, cornerways, cornerwise, crook, crossways, crosswise, cup of tea, curve, declination, deflect, delight, departure, detour, deviance, deviancy, deviate, deviation, deviousness, diagonal, diagonally, diagonalwise, diathesis, diffract, diffuse, digression, discrimination, discursion, disperse, dispose, disposition, distort, divagate, divagation, divarication, diverge, divergence, diversion, divert, dogleg, double, drift, drifting, druthers, eagerness, eccentricity, errantry, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, fancy, fascination, favor, favoritism, feeling for, forejudgment, garble, go, grain, hairpin, have a tendency, head, idiosyncrasy, impulse, inclination, inclinational, inclinatory, incline, inclined, inclining, indirection, individualism, induce, inequality, influence, interest, involvement, jaundice, jaundiced eye, kidney, kittycorner, lead, lean, leaning, liability, liking, listing, look to, lurch, make, makeup, mental set, mettle, mind, mind-set, misconstrue, misdirect, misinterpret, misrender, misrepresent, misuse, mold, move, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, nature, nepotism, oblique, oblique angle, oblique figure, oblique line, obliquity, on the bias, one-sidedness, out of plumb, out of square, parti pris, partialism, partiality, particular choice, partisanism, partisanship, penchant, pererration, personal choice, persuade, pervert, pitched, point, point to, preconception, predilection, predispose, predisposition, preference, preferential treatment, prejudgment, prejudice, prejudice against, prejudice the issue, prepossess, prepossession, probability, proclivity, prompt, proneness, propensity, pull, raking, rambling, readiness, recumbent, redound to, refract, rhomboid, scatter, scratch comma, sensitivity to, separatrix, serve, set, set toward, sheer, shelving, shelvy, shift, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, show a tendency, sideling, sidelong, skew, slant, slanted, slanting, slantways, slantwise, slash, sloped, sloping, slue, soft spot, soften up, solidus, stamp, standpoint, strain, straying, streak, stripe, style, susceptibility, sway, sweep, swerve, swerving, swinging, sympathy, tack, taint, taste, temper, temperament, tend, tendency, thing, thwart, tilted, tilting, tinge, tipped, tipping, tipsy, tone, torture, transverse, trend, tropism, turn, turn of mind, turning, twist, type, undetachment, undispassionateness, unneutrality, variation, varnish, veer, verge, viewpoint, virgule, wandering, warp, weakness, wear down, weigh with, weight, willingness, work, work toward, yaw, zigzag