skew /skjuː/noun 12verb 7adjective 3adverb 1forms 7 noun12 •Something that has an oblique or slanted position. •A bias or distortion in a particular direction.We now come to Whiston village and bridge, (7½ miles) and after passing under a wooden bridge, dash under one of 47 feet span, of stone and brick, with a remarkable skew. — 1832 •A state of asymmetry in a distribution; skewness. •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. •A phenomenon in synchronous digital circuit systems (such as computers) in which the same sourced clock signal arrives at different components at different times. •An oblique or sideways movement. •A squint or sidelong glance. •A thick drizzling rain or driving mist.I am in a regular Cornish skew as to the future, like that thou and I were favoured with when we astonished the natives at Sidmouth - can't see an inch before me. — 1888 •A kind of wooden vane or cowl in a chimney which revolves according to the direction of the wind and prevents smoking. •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.How many yards of roofing and serking, in a Roof 45 feet, 8 in. long, from skew to skew; and 21 feet, 8 in. deep, from ridge to easing, including 9 inches for wall plates or double eave? — 1838 •(Scotland) The coping of a gable. •One of the stones placed over the end of a gable, or forming the coping of a gable. verb7 •To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.Thus asynchronous torques cannot be avoided but can be reduced by proper choice of coil span and by skewing the stator or rotor slots. — 2009 •To cause (a distribution) to be asymmetrical. •To bias or distort in a particular direction.A disproportionate number of female subjects in the study group skewed the results. •To move obliquely; to move sideways, to sidle; to lie obliquely.[T]he plaintiff's surveyor says, his line struck the house ten inches in the rear and fifteen inches in the front; and farther that the "house is a little skewing and is not set exactly square." — 1829 •To look at obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.[C]an this durt draw us / To such a stupid tamenesse, that our service / Neglected, and look'd lamely on, and skewd at / With a few honourable words, and this, is righted? — 1616 •To jump back or sideways in fear or surprise; to shy, as a horse. •To hurl or throw. adjective3 •Neither parallel nor perpendicular to a certain line; askew.The last crossing, immediately short of Keswick station, is an inverted bowstring girder bridge with a skew span of 120ft. — 1961 •Of a distribution: asymmetrical about its mean.The skewest possible distribution is that in which every but one target value has only one element and the other target value has all the other elements. — 2016 •Of two lines in three-dimensional space: neither intersecting nor parallel. adverb1 •(rare) Askew, obliquely; awry.The walls are all united at one end into one head wall; which runs 14′ skew of the Pyramid on the W.; [...] — 1883 formsskewed · skewing · skews · more skew · skewer · most skew · skewest
