▪ I. askance, adv.
(əˈskæns)
Forms: 6 a scanche, a scance, ascaunce, 6–7 asconce, ascance, 6–8 askaunce, 7 askauns, ascaunse, 6– askance.
[Etymology unknown. Wedgwood suggests It. a schiancio ‘bias, slanting, sloping or slopingly, aslope, across, overthwart’ (Baretti), where schiancio is = OFr. esclanc, esclenc, gauche, left hand. Skeat compares It. scanso f. scansare, expl. by Florio, among other meanings, as ‘to go a slope, or a sconce, or a skew, to go sidelin.’ Koch suggests a formation on ON. á ská: see askew. Diefenbach compares Jutlandish ad-skands, West Fris. skân, schean, which he connects with Du. schuin, schuins: see askoyne.
(There is a whole group of words of more or less obscure origin in ask-, containing askance, askant, askew, askie, askile, askoye, askoyne, (with which cf. asklent, aslant, asquint,) which are more or less closely connected in sense, and seem to have influenced one another in form. They appear mostly in the 16th or end of the 15th c., and none of them can be certainly traced up to OE.; though they can nearly all be paralleled by words in various languages, evidence is wanting as to their actual origin and their relations to one another.)]
1. a. Sidewise, obliquely, askew, asquint; with a side glance.
| 1530 Palsgr. 831/1 A scanche, De travers, en lorgnant. a 1541 Wyatt Meane & Sure Est. 52 For, as she lookt a scance, Under a stole she spied two stemyng eyes. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 668 He bid his Angels turne ascance The Poles of Earth. 1768 Beattie Minstr. i. xxxv, They meet, they dart away, they wheel askance. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 154 Judas is at once distinguished, looking askance with a wicked sneer on his face. |
b. With a side or indirect meaning.
| 1876 Swinburne Erechtheus 337 Journeying to the bright God's shrine Who speaks askance and darkling. |
2. In the fig. phrases to look, eye, view askance, the idea expressed has varied considerably, different writers using them to indicate disdain, envy, jealousy, and suspicion. The last of these is now the prevalent idea, and to look at askance, eye askance, view askance = to look at with mistrust.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 21 That scornefully lookes askaunce. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 249 Thou canst not frowne, thou canst not looke a sconce. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man. in Hum. iv. ii, Nay, Boy, never look askance at me for the matter. 1602 Life T. Cromwell iv. ii, Yet look'd askance when as they saw me poor. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 504 The Devil..with jealous leer maligne Ey'd them askance. 1750 Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 215 Whom meaner beauties eye askance, And vainly ape her art of killing. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 155 It is envy and malignity..that makes some look askance at the distinctions..set apart for virtue. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 57 Eyeing the enemy askance from under their broad hats. 1875 Gladstone Glean. VI. xxiv. 120 Both rather abounded in self-confidence, and were viewed askance by authority. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. v. 97 Words..which come to be looked askance at and avoided. |
3. elliptical, quasi-adj. Turned sidewise, sidelong.
| 1593 Nashe Christes Teares (1613) 48 Thy sight is no way..impayred, by casting away one askance-regard on any. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 149 Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance, Thus answerd. 1824 Galt Rothelan II. iv. viii. 168 The fiend of night..retires with an askance and lurid eye. 1914 T. Hardy Satires of Circumstance 32 Down there they are dubious and askance. 1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart i. iii. 56 ‘Well, what, Matchett?’ Anna said touchily. ‘Young people like to wear what is usual.’ Anna had been askance. Ibid. i. iv. 76 Looking at all this in here with a wild askance shrinking eye. |
▪ II. † aˈskance, v. Obs.
[f. prec.]
To turn aside.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 637 That from their own misdeeds askance their eyes! |
▪ III. † aˈskance(s, conjunctive adv. Obs.
Also 4–5 ascauns(e, ascance, ascaunce, ascaunces, askaunse, as skaunce, asscaunce, 6 ascanses, askaunces.
[Etym. unknown; the word was orig. of 3 syllables, and ascaunces was perh. the orig. form. See Skeat Chaucer's Man of Law's T., etc., Glossary; also Notes and Queries, 4th ser. XI. 251, where its use is shown to correspond to that of Du. kwantwijs, ODu. quantsuys, quansîs.]
1. As though, as if. (? On the pretence.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 37 And wroot the names..Ascaunce [v.r. ascance, askaunse] that he wolde for hem preye. c 1400 Beryn 1797 They walkid to and fro..as skaunce they knewe nauȝte. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 39 And even the erthe above ascaunce her noon is. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas iv. xiv. 114 a, A sprite of feined pacience..Ascaunce she had been in vertue strong. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 162 Keeping a countenance ascanses she vnderstood him not. |
2. ellipt. As if saying, as much as to say.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 292 Sche lete falle Hire loke a lite aside, in swich manere, Ascaunces, ‘What! may I nat stonden here?’ [Boccaccio: quasi dicesse, E no ci si puo star?]. 1572 Gascoigne Flowers Wks. 1587, 101 Therewith he raysed his heavy head alight, Askaunces, Ha! in deede and thinkst thou so. |