Adjacent Words

squinch definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a small arch built across the interior angle of two walls (usually to support a spire) v
1: crouch down
2: draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]
3: cross one's eyes as if in strabismus; "The children squinted so as to scare each other" [syn: squint, squinch]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: probably blend of squint and pinch Date: 1835 transitive verb 1. to screw up (the eyes or face) ; squint 2. a. to make more compact b. to cause to crouch down or draw together intransitive verb 1. flinch 2. to crouch down or draw together 3. squint II. noun Etymology: alteration of earlier scunch back part of the side of an opening Date: circa 1840 a support (as an arch, lintel, or corbeling) carried across the corner of a room under a superimposed mass

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a straight or arched structure across an interior angle of a square tower to carry a superstructure, e.g. a dome. Etymology: var. of obs. scunch, abbr. of SCUNCHEON

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squinch Squinch, n. [Corrupted fr. sconce.] (Arch.) A small arch thrown across the corner of a square room to support a superimposed mass, as where an octagonal spire or drum rests upon a square tower; -- called also sconce, and sconcheon.