askant

English

Etymology

Alteration of askance, apparently after aslant.

Adverb

askant (comparative more askant, superlative most askant)

1. (now rare) Aslant; to one side, askance. [from 17th c.]
   • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

     And I saw askant the armies, / I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle-flags, / Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc’d with missiles I saw them, / And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody, / And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs, (and all in silence,) / And the staffs all splinter’d and broken.

   • 1917, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Copper Streak Trail‎^[1]:

     He folded the bill lovingly and tucked it away; but he flipped the coin from his thumb, spinning in the sun, caught it as it fell, and glanced askant at old Pete.

Adjective

askant (comparative more askant, superlative most askant)

1. (now rare) Aslant, sloping.
   • 1901, Elizabeth Stoddard, The Morgesons‎^[2]:

     While appearing to listen to Adelaide, her eyes wandered over me with speculation askant in them.

   • 1934, Kay Boyle, My Next Bride, Virago, published 1986, page 53:

     A small, askant, almost contemptuous smile was on her mouth as she chewed.

Translations

aslant, sloping

• Russian: косой (ru) (kosoj)

Verb

askant (third-person singular simple present askants, present participle askanting, simple past and past participle askanted)

1. Dated form of askance.

Anagrams

• Tankas, kanats, tankas