asquint

English

Etymology

From Middle English asquint, asquynt, asqweynt, equivalent to a- (“on, at”) +‎ a word related to Dutch schuinte (“tilt, slant, slope”), Saterland Frisian Schüünte (“slope, slant”), West Frisian skeante (“slope, slant”), German Low German Schüünte (“angle, slant, slope, pitch”). Compare also Middle English askoin, askoyn, of skwyn (“on a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin (“oblique, slanting, sloping”), West Frisian skean (“oblique, slanting, sloping”), German Low German schüün (“slanting”), Norwegian Nynorsk skeina (“to move obliquely”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈskwɪnt/

Adjective

asquint (not comparable)

1. Looking sideways, as though warily.

   Eyes asquint, he saw she was driving much too fast.

   • 1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Spiritual Laws.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 128:

     Faces never lie, it is said. […] When a man speaks the truth in the spirit of truth, his eye is as clear as the heavens. When he has base ends, and speaks falsely, the eye is muddy and sometimes asquint.

Adverb

asquint (not comparable)

1. With narrowed eyes.
   • 1832, Edgar Allan Poe, Loss of Breath:

     It is not to be supposed, however, that in the delivery of such passages I was found at all deficient in the looking asquint—the showing my teeth—the working my knees—the shuffling my feet—or in any of those unmentionable graces which are now justly considered the characteristics of a popular performe

Derived terms

• squint

Anagrams

• quaints, quintas