askant

comparative more askant · superlative most askant

1. archaicAslant; to one side, askance.First known use 17th c.

   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.

   1917, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Copper Streak Trail

   1 more example

   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.

   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

comparative more askant · superlative most askant

1. archaicAslant, sloping.

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

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

   1 more example

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

   1901, Elizabeth Stoddard, The Morgesons

present singular third person askants · participle present askanting · participle past askanted · past askanted

1. datedDated form of askance.