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Synonyms

squinch

1 American  
[skwinch] / skwɪntʃ /

noun

Architecture.

  1. a small arch, corbeling, or the like, built across the interior angle between two walls, as in a square tower for supporting the side of a superimposed octagonal spire.

squinch 2 American  
[skwinch] / skwɪntʃ /

verb (used with object)

  1. to contort (the features) or squint.

  2. to squeeze together or contract.

verb (used without object)

  1. to squeeze together or crouch down, as to fit into a smaller space.

squinch British  
/ skwɪntʃ /

noun

  1. Also called: squinch arch.  a small arch, corbelling, etc, across an internal corner of a tower, used to support a superstructure such as a spire

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of squinch1

1490–1500; variant of scunch, short for scuncheon, Middle English sconch ( e ) on < Middle French escoinson, esconchon; sconcheon

Origin of squinch2

1830–40; origin uncertain; squint

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.