Link Centre Dictionary

squinch

UK/skwɪnt͡ʃ/ uncommon

noun

1.

a small arch built across the interior angle of two walls (usually to support a spire)

verb

1.

crouch down

2.

draw back, as with fear or pain

  • “she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf”
3.

partly close one''s eyes

  • “The children squinted to frighten each other”

Origin

Uncertain. Probably blend of squint + pinch. Compare squink-eyed, variant of squint-eyed, so perhaps it is at least partly an altered form of squint.

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