squinch

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skwɪnt͡ʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

Etymology 1

Squinch

Alteration of earlier scunch (“back part of the side of an opening”), short for scuncheon.

Noun

squinch (plural squinches)

1. (architecture) A structure constructed between two adjacent walls to aid in the transition from a polygonal to a circular structure, as when a dome is constructed on top of a square room.

Translations

structure between walls to transition to circular

• Catalan: trompa (ca) f
• French: trompe (fr) f
• German: Trompe (de) f
• Persian: سکنج (fa) (sekonj), گوشه (fa) (guše), گوشواره (fa) (gušvâre), فیلگوش (filguš)
• Russian: тромп (ru) m (tromp)
• Spanish: trompa (es)
• Swedish: trompe (sv)

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Probably blend of squint +‎ pinch. Compare squink-eyed, variant of squint-eyed, so perhaps it is at least partly an altered form of squint.

Verb

squinch (third-person singular simple present squinches, present participle squinching, simple past and past participle squinched)

1. (transitive) To scrunch up (one's face, etc.).
   • 2008 March 15, Gail Collins, “George Speaks, Badly”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     The president squinched his face and bit his lip and seemed too antsy to stand still.

See also

• squinch owl (possibly etymologically related)