askew

askew

See also: Askew

English

Alternative forms

• askue, ascue, askoye, a skew

Etymology

From Old Norse á ská (“askew, askance”), equivalent to a- +‎ skew. Compare Icelandic á ská (“diagonally”), Danish skrå (“slanting, oblique”), German Schräge (“slope, slant”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-skyo͞oʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈskju/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈskjuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Adjective

askew

1. Turned or twisted to one side.
   • 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way :

     Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of "Stonewall Jackson’s Way."
     We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o'er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true.

2. (figuratively) Untoward, unfavourable.

Translations

turned or twisted to one side

Dutch: scheef (nl) Finnish: vino (fi) French: de travers (fr), de guingois (fr), de traviole (fr), oblique (fr), incliné (fr), penché (fr) German: schief (de), verzogen (de), verwunden (de), verbogen (de), quer (de), schräg (de), verrutscht (de) Hebrew: על העוקם‎ (al ha'ókem) Hungarian: ferde (hu), félrecsúszott, csálé (hu), rézsútos (hu) Italian: obliquo (it) Latin: līmus Plautdietsch: winjsch Spanish: torcido (es), oblicuo (es)

untoward, unfavourable

German: verquer (de), ungünstig (de)

Adverb

askew (comparative more askew, superlative most askew)

1. Tilted to one side.

   He wore his hat askew

Translations

tilted to one side

Finnish: kallellaan (fi), vinossa (fi) German: schief (de), schräg (de), sich neigend Hungarian: ferdén (hu), csálén, rézsútosan

with disapproval

Finnish: vinosti (fi), kieroon German: mißbilligend (de), abschätzig (de)

Related terms

• skew-whiff

Anagrams

• wakes, wekas