skew-whiff
adjEtymology
From skew + weft. The expression 'skew weft' dates at least from the 18th century as a term used by handloom weavers, typically in northern England. It was used originally to describe fabric which was out of alignment, and the term survives today in the manufacture of glass fiber cloth. The word weft does not derive from 'whiff' as in a puff of air (as suggested elsewhere). The modern spelling comes from a corruption of 'skew-wift' whose sound developed colloquially in spoken English from the original. Bow weft also exists.
Definitions
Askew
Askew; lopsided, not straight.
- I hung up that picture, but it looks skew-whiff to me.
- “[…]I′ve just been looking up at them and it seems to me that Cassiopeia′s Chair is a bit more skew-whiff than usual. Either it′s been moved or we′re heading the wrong way.”
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for skew-whiff. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA