skew

An example of a skew arch

From Middle English skewen, from Old Northern French escuer, eskiuer, variants of Old French eschuer, eschiver, eschever, from Frankish *skiuhan (“to dread; avoid; shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhijaną (“to frighten”). Compare Saterland Frisian skeeuw (“slanting, oblique”), Danish skæv (“skew, slanting, crooked”), Norwegian skeiv. More at shy and eschew.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /skjuː/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -uː

skew (not comparable)

1. (mathematics) Neither perpendicular nor parallel (usually said of two lines).
2. Neither parallel nor at right angles to a certain line; e.g. a skew arch.

skew (third-person singular simple present skews, present participle skewing, simple past and past participle skewed)

1. (transitive) To bias or distort in a particular direction.

   A disproportionate number of female subjects in the study group skewed the results.

2. (transitive) To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.
3. (transitive) To throw or hurl obliquely.
4. (intransitive) To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely.
   • L'Estrange

     Child, you must walk straight, without skewing.

5. (intransitive) To start aside; to shy, as a horse.
6. (intransitive) To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

• skewness

skew (countable and uncountable, plural skews)

1. A bias or distortion in a particular direction.
   • 1989, Ivan Andonovic, ‎Deepak Uttamchandani, Principles of Modern Optical Systems (volume 1, page 501)

     One application for which an optical filter can play an important role is that of a wideband connection with low time skew.

2. (architecture) 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.
3. (electronics) A phenomenon in synchronous digital circuit systems (such as computers) in which the same sourced clock signal arrives at different components at different times.

skew (comparative more skew, superlative most skew)

1. Awry; obliquely; askew.

• “skew” (US) / “skew” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.