• (RP) IPA: /skjuː/
• (GA) IPA: /skju/

skew (skews, present participle skewing; past and past participle skewed)

1. (transitive) To form#Verb|form or shape#Verb|shape in an oblique#Adjective|oblique way; to cause#Verb|cause to take an oblique position#Noun|position.

   Antonyms: unskew

   1. (statistics) To cause (a distribution) to be asymmetrical.
2. (transitive) To bias#Verb|bias or distort in a particular direction.

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

3. (transitive, Northumbria, Yorkshire) To hurl#Verb|hurl or throw#Verb|throw.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:throw

4. (intransitive) To move#Verb|move obliquely; to move sideways, to sidle#Verb|sidle; to lie#Verb|lie obliquely.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] CCXXI. An Old Crab and a Young.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: Printed for R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523 ↗, page 193 ↗:

     Child, (ſays the Mother) You muſt Uſe your ſelf to Walk Streight, without Skewing, and Shailing ſo Every Step you ſet: Pray Mother (ſays the Young Crab) do but ſet the Example your ſelf, and I'll follow ye.

5. (intransitive) To jump#Verb|jump back or sideways in fear#Noun|fear or surprise#Noun|surprise; to shy#Verb|shy, as a horse#Noun|horse.
6. (intransitive) To look#Verb|look at obliquely; to squint#Verb|squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.
   • c. 1616–1619 (first performance)​, John Fletcher, “The Loyal Svbiect”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act II, scene i, page 31 ↗, column 1:

     [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?

   • 1827, John Clare, “The Memory of Love; a Tale”, in The Shepherd’s Calendar; […], London: Published for John Taylor, […], by James Duncan, […], OCLC 33082648 ↗, page 173 ↗:

     The cows stood round her in a wondering way, / And kept the stranger with her fears at bay; / They tost their heads and snuff'd the morning gales, / Skewing at her: [...]

• French: biaiser
• Italian: distorcere
• Portuguese: distorcer, enviesar
• Russian: отклоня́ться

skew (not comparable)

1. (not comparable) Neither parallel nor at right angles to a certain line#Noun|line; askew#Adjective|askew.

   a skew arch

   • 1749, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “Of the Most Singular and Strange Adventure that Befel Don Quixote in the Whole Course of This Famous History”, in [Peter Anthony] Motteux, transl.; [John] Ozell, editor, The History of the Renowned Don Quixote de la Mancha. […], volume IV, 8th edition, London: Printed for W[illiam] Innys, […], OCLC 1102757534 ↗, part II, page 284 ↗:

     She pretended to faint, bow'd to the duke and ducheſs, and alſo to the two kings; but caſting a ſkew look upon Don Quixote, heaven forgive that hard-hearted lovely knight, ſaid ſhe, whoſe barbarity has made me an inhabitant of the other world for ought I know a thouſand years.

2. (not comparable, geometry) Of two lines in three-dimensional space#Noun|space: neither intersecting nor parallel.
3. (comparable, statistics) Of a distribution: asymmetrical about its mean#Noun|mean.

• French: gauche, oblique
• German: schief, schräg, windschief
• Italian: obliquo, sghembo, trasversale
• Portuguese: assimétrico
• Spanish: asimétrico, oblicuo

skew

1. (rare) askew#Adverb|Askew, obliquely; awry.

skew (plural skews)

1. Something that has an oblique#Adjective|oblique or slanted#Adjective|slanted position#Noun|position.
2. An oblique or sideways movement.
3. A bias#Noun|bias or distortion in a particular direction.
4. (electronics) A phenomenon in synchronous digital circuit systems (such as computers) in which the same sourced#Adjective|sourced clock#Noun|clock signal#Noun|signal arrives at different components at different time#Noun|times.
5. (statistics) A state#Noun|state of asymmetry in a distribution; skewness.

skew (plural skews)

1. (architecture) A stone#Noun|stone at the foot#Noun|foot of the slope#Noun|slope of a gable, the offset#Noun|offset of a buttress, etc., cut#Verb|cut with a sloping#Adjective|sloping surface#Noun|surface and with a check#Noun|check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place#Noun|place; a skew-corbel.
2. (chiefly, Scotland, architecture) The coping#Noun|coping of a gable.
3. (architecture, obsolete) One of the stones place#Verb|placed over the end#Noun|end of a gable, or form#Verb|forming the coping of a gable.