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Skew   /skju/   Listen
noun
Skew  n.  (Arch.) A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, or the like, cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place.



verb
Skew  v. t.  
1.
To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.
2.
To throw or hurl obliquely.



Skew  v. i.  (past & past part. skewed; pres. part. skewing)  
1.
To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely. "Child, you must walk straight, without skewing."
2.
To start aside; to shy, as a horse. (Prov. Eng.)
3.
To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.



adjective
Skew  adj.  Turned or twisted to one side; situated obliquely; skewed; chiefly used in technical phrases.
Skew arch, an oblique arch. See under Oblique.
Skew back. (Civil Engin.)
(a)
The course of masonry, the stone, or the iron plate, having an inclined face, which forms the abutment for the voussoirs of a segmental arch.
(b)
A plate, cap, or shoe, having an inclined face to receive the nut of a diagonal brace, rod, or the end of an inclined strut, in a truss or frame.
Skew bridge. See under Bridge, n.
Skew curve (Geom.), a curve of double curvature, or a twisted curve. See Plane curve, under Curve.
Skew gearing, or Skew bevel gearing (Mach.), toothed gearing, generally resembling bevel gearing, for connecting two shafts that are neither parallel nor intersecting, and in which the teeth slant across the faces of the gears.
Skew surface (Geom.), a ruled surface such that in general two successive generating straight lines do not intersect; a warped surface; as, the helicoid is a skew surface.
Skew symmetrical determinant (Alg.), a determinant in which the elements in each column of the matrix are equal to the elements of the corresponding row of the matrix with the signs changed, as in (1), below.



adverb
Skew  adv.  Awry; obliquely; askew.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Skew" Quotes from Famous Books



... she affirmed, herself having seen ninety-nine winters, while Abigail had known but a paltry sixty-five, "yew allers go an' cut yer pity on the skew-gee. I don't see nothin' ter bawl an' beller erbout. I say that a'ny man what can't take kere o' himself, not ter mention his wife, should orter go ...
— Old Lady Number 31 • Louise Forsslund

... and harvest in a gulp. Again they were desperate gleaners, hopping, skipping, bleeding, amid a whizz of scythe-blades, for small wisps of booty. Nor was it long before the presidency of an ancient hoary Goat-Satan might be perceived, with skew-eyes and pucker-mouth, nursing a hoof on ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... taxed to the utmost during the four years that they were in progress. Almost every detail in the plans was directed and arranged by himself. Every bridge, from the simplest to the most complicated, including the then novel structure of the "skew bridge," iron girders, siphons, fixed engines, and the machinery for working the tunnel at the Liverpool end, had to be thought out by his own head, and reduced to definite plans under his own eyes. Besides all this, he had to design the working plant in anticipation ...
— Lives of the Engineers - The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson • Samuel Smiles

... fancied an exchange. Stanfield—not well mounted—had proposed a "swop," as he jocosely termed it, to which the savage had no alternative but consent; and the Kentuckian, having "hitched" his worn-out nag to a tree, led off the skew-bald mustang in triumph, declaring that he was now "squar wi' the Indyens." Stanfield would have liked it better had the "swop" been made with the renegade who ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid

... own—for one of the rangers had fancied an exchange. Stanfield—not well mounted—had proposed a "swop," as he jocosely termed it, to which the savage had no alternative but consent; and the Kentuckian, having "hitched" his worn-out nag to a tree, led off the skew-bald mustang in triumph, declaring that he was now "squar wi' the Indyens." Stanfield would have liked it better had the "swop" been made with the renegade ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid

... W, which are parallel to the tomb of Zet. Later there appears to have been built the long line of tombs, placed askew, in order not to interfere with those which have been mentioned, and then this skew line gave the di-rection to the next tomb, that of Merneit, and later on to that of Azab. The private graves around the royal tomb are all built of mud brick, with a coat of mud plaster over it, and the floor is of sand, usually also coated over ...
— History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12) • S. Rappoport

... vast And soaring shape, like air-launched eagle, seemed To fill the sky, and shadow half the world? As well the Eagle's self might be expected To second the small jay! My shadow, mine? Yes, but distorted by the skew-cast ray Of a far lesser sun than lit the noon Of my meridian glory. So I spurn The shrunken simulacrum! And they shriek, Shout censure at me, the cur-crowd who crouched, Ere that a woman's hate and a boy's pride Smote me, the new Abimelech, so sore; They'd hush me, like ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, VOL. 100. Feb. 28, 1891 • Various

... this country; and, at some future day, his merits will be, I trust, recorded on a monument, by the side of the benevolent Howard, in St. Paul's. Sir Richard Phillips is a modest, unostentatious man; he makes but little skew and parade; but the hand of oppression seldom bears heavily upon a fellow-citizen, that Sir Richard is not found, in some way or other, endeavoring to alleviate his distress. I speak feelingly, for my persecutions ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 2 • Henry Hunt

... tried to fix the young man much as a cook fixes a roast with a skewer, to be put over the fire; but Courtland didn't skew. He just sat down indifferently and looked the man over; smiled pleasantly now and then, and listened; but he didn't give an inch. Even when the marvelous proposition was made to him which might change the whole course of ...
— The Witness • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz

... fixed to look downward vertically, and then variation up to 40 degrees can be got by the legs. Hold the camera in the right position, keeping the legs off the ground, and then drop the legs to find their own place; thus very skew positions can ...
— How to Observe in Archaeology • Various



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