Word.ws English Dictionary

asquint

/əˈskwɪnt/

asquint adjective: looking sideways, as though warily.

Adjective

asquint (not comparable)

  1. Looking sideways, as though warily.
    • Eyes asquint, he saw she was driving much too fast.
    • Faces never lie, it is said. […] When a man speaks the truth in the spirit of truth, his eye is as clear as the heavens. When he has base ends, and speaks falsely, the eye is muddy and sometimes asquint.1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Spiritual Laws.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 128

Adverb

asquint (not comparable)

  1. With narrowed eyes.
    • [B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtriſſes, though he daily Invocate them, though he ſacrifize Hecatombs, they ſtil look a ſquint, […]a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “[Characters.] The True Character of a Dunce.”, in Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters, […], London: […] T. N. for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1652...
    • It is not to be supposed, however, that in the delivery of such passages I was found at all deficient in the looking asquint—the showing my teeth—the working my knees—the shuffling my feet—or in any of those unmentionable graces which are now justly considered the characteristics of a popular...1832, Edgar Allan Poe, Loss of Breath

Origin of asquint

From Middle English asquint, asquynt, asqweynt, equivalent to a- (“on, at”) + a word related to Dutch schuinte (“tilt, slant, slope”), Saterland Frisian Schüünte (“slope, slant”), West Frisian skeante (“slope, slant”), German Low German Schüünte (“angle, slant, slope, pitch”). Compare also Middle English askoin, askoyn, of skwyn (“on a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin (“oblique, slanting, sloping”), West Frisian skean (“oblique, slanting, sloping”), German Low German schüün (“slanting”), Norwegian Nynorsk skeina (“to move obliquely”).

Words formed from asquint

Words that rhyme with asquint

16 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about asquint

What does asquint mean?
Asquint means looking sideways, as though warily.
What part of speech is asquint?
Asquint can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce asquint?
Asquint is pronounced /əˈskwɪnt/.

Words near asquint in the dictionary

  1. ASQ
  2. ASQC
  3. asqtad
  4. asquat
  5. asqueal
  6. asquint
  7. asquirm
  8. Asquith
  9. Asquithian
  10. Asquithite
  11. Asquithites

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: asquint (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-asquint.wav.

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