askew

• askue, ascue, askoye, a skew

From Old Norse á ská (“askew, askance”), equivalent to a- +‎ skew. Compare Icelandic á ská (“diagonally”), Danish skrå (“slanting, oblique”), German Schräge (“slope, slant”).

• enPR: ə-skyo͞oʹ, IPA^(key): /əˈskju/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈskjuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -uː

askew

1. Turned or twisted to one side.
   • 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way :

     Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of "Stonewall Jackson’s Way."
     We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o'er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true.

2. (figuratively) Untoward, unfavourable.

askew (comparative more askew, superlative most askew)

1. Tilted to one side.

   He wore his hat askew

• skew-whiff

• wakes, wekas