Link Centre Dictionary

skew

UK/skjuː/ US/skjʉw/ uncommon obsolete rare
adjective (1) verb (1)

adjective

1.

having an oblique or slanting direction or position

  • “the picture was skew”
Synonyms
Similar

verb

1.

turn or place at an angle

  • “the lines on the sheet of paper are skewed”
Antonyms

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English skeuen, skewe, skewen (“to run at an angle or obliquely; to escape”), from Old Northern French escuer [and other forms], variants of Old French eschuer, eschever, eschiver (“to escape, flee; to avoid”) (modern French esquiver (“to dodge (a blow), duck; to elude, evade; to slip away; to sidestep”)), from Frankish *skiuhan (“to dread; to avoid, shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhijaną (“to frighten”). The English word is cognate with Catalan esquiu (“evasive, shy”), Danish skæv (“crooked, slanting; skew, wry”) (> Norwegian Bokmål skjev), Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”), Norwegian skeiv (“crooked, lopsided; oblique, slanting; distorted”), Saterland Frisian skeeuw (“aslant, slanting; oblique; awry”), and is a doublet of eschew. The adjective and adverb are probably derived from the verb and/or from askew, and the noun is derived from either the adjective or the verb.

Phrases

  • clock skew
  • on the skew
  • skew arch
  • skew bevel gear
  • skew bridge
  • skew chisel
  • skew curve
  • skew factor
  • skew gear
  • skew normal distribution

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.