skew

Signification

Verb

1. To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.
2. To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.
3. To bias or distort in a particular direction.
4. To hurl or throw.
5. To move obliquely; to move sideways, to sidle; to lie obliquely.
6. To jump back or sideways in fear or surprise; to shy, as a horse.
7. To look at obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.

Adj

1. Neither parallel nor perpendicular to a certain line; askew.
2. Of two lines in three-dimensional space: neither intersecting nor parallel.
3. Of a distribution: asymmetrical about its mean.

Adv

Askew, obliquely; awry.

Noun

1. Something that has an oblique or slanted position.
2. An oblique or sideways movement.
3. A squint or sidelong glance.
4. A kind of wooden vane or cowl in a chimney which revolves according to the direction of the wind and prevents smoking.
5. A piece of rock lying in a slanting position and tapering upwards which overhangs a working-place in a mine and is liable to fall.
6. A bias or distortion in a particular direction.
7. A phenomenon in synchronous digital circuit systems (such as computers) in which the same sourced clock signal arrives at different components at different times.
8. A state of asymmetry in a distribution; skewness.

Noun

1. A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, etc., cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place; a skew-corbel.
2. The coping of a gable.
3. (obsolete) One of the stones placed over the end of a gable, or forming the coping of a gable.

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/skjuː/

Étymologie

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.