Meanings
- alternativehumorousnot comparableAlternative form of picturesque.
Cheap-looking, true — but picture-skew — my Kots will stretch for miles […]
1945: New statesman: The Week-end Review (Statesman and Nation Publishing), page 314 more examples
However, in a broad-brimmed hat And frilly dress, she figured that She looked quite sweet and picture-skew, When seated in a green canoe.
1926: Florence Nelson & C F Scheer, Safety education (Education Division, National Safety Council), page 22This was their first trip on this road. That they were thrilled, their faces showed. One of them oft admired the view, Exclaiming, “Ain’t that picture-skew”!
1943: James Styles, The Soul of the Universe, and Other Poems (New Method Ptg. Co.), page 12^({1}) “[…] I thought it was out of date to like things to be picture-skew,” Peter said, […] ^({2}) Picture-skew; a bit of tout droit; carry on, Jeeves; the horrible puns […]
1958, George Smith, The Cornhill Magazine, volume 170, numbers 1015-1020, Smith, Elder and co, page 333“[…] We’ll get the elk and the deer and the rocks in our own picture-skew way, won’t we, Ron?” “If you mean ‘picturesque’ I’d say that you are quite right. […]”
2005, Philip Hart, The Flight of the Mystic Owls, Kessinger Publishing, page 184
Origin
A deliberately mispronounced respelling of picturesque, for humorous effect.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
picture-skew. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture-skew
“picture-skew.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture-skew. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “picture-skew,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture-skew.
Source: picture-skew on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.