Definition of "asquint"
asquint
adjective
not comparable
Looking sideways, as though warily.
Quotations
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, page 128
adverb
not comparable
Quotations
[B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtreſſes, 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, page 68
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 performe
1832, Edgar Allan Poe, Loss of Breath