Bias

Bi"as, a. 1. Inclined to one side; swelled on one side. [Obs.] Shak.

2. Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.

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

Bi"as, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Biased (bī"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.

Bi"as (bī"as), n.; pl. Biases (-ĕz). [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.