What is "skew"

Skew \Skew\, n. (Arch.) A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, or the like, cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place.

Skew \Skew\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Skewed; p. pr. & vb. n. Skewing.]

1. To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely.

   Child, you must walk straight, without skewing.
   --L'Estrange.

2. To start aside; to shy, as a horse. [Prov. Eng.]

3. To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.
   --Beau. & Fl.

Skew \Skew\, adv. [Cf. D. scheef. Dan. ski?v, Sw. skef, Icel. skeifr, G. schief, also E. shy, a. & v. i.] Awry; obliquely; askew.

Skew \Skew\, a. Turned or twisted to one side; situated obliquely; skewed; -- chiefly used in technical phrases. Skew arch, an oblique arch. See under Oblique. Skew back. (Civil Engin.)

1. The course of masonry, the stone, or the iron plate, having an inclined face, which forms the abutment for the voussoirs of a segmental arch.

2. A plate, cap, or shoe, having an inclined face to receive the nut of a diagonal brace, rod, or the end of an inclined strut, in a truss or frame.

   Skew bridge. See under Bridge, n.

   Skew curve (Geom.), a curve of double curvature, or a twisted curve. See Plane curve, under Curve.

   Skew gearing, or Skew bevel gearing (Mach.), toothed gearing, generally resembling bevel gearing, for connecting two shafts that are neither parallel nor intersecting, and in which the teeth slant across the faces of the gears.

   Skew surface (Geom.), a ruled surface such that in general two successive generating straight lines do not intersect; a warped surface; as, the helicoid is a skew surface.

   Skew symmetrical determinant (Alg.), a determinant in which the elements in each column of the matrix are equal to the elements of the corresponding row of the matrix with the signs changed, as in (1), below. [1913 Webster] (1) 0 2 -3-2 0 53 -5 0 (2) 4 -1 71 8 -2-7 2 1

   Note: This requires that the numbers in the diagonal from the upper left to lower right corner be zeros. A like determinant in which the numbers in the diagonal are not zeros is a skew determinant, as in (2), above.

Skew \Skew\, v. t. [See Skew, adv.]

1. To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.

2. To throw or hurl obliquely.

late 15c., "to turn aside" (intransitive), from Old North French eskiuer "shy away from, avoid," Old French eschiver (see eschew). Transitive sense of "turn (something) aside" is from 1570s. Meaning "depict unfairly" first recorded 1872, on notion of being "give oblique direction to," hence "to distort, to make slant." Statistical sense dates from 1929. Related: Skewed; skewing. The adjectival meaning "slanting, turned to one side" is recorded from c.1600, from the verb; noun meaning "slant, deviation" first attested 1680s.

1. (context mathematics English) Neither perpendicular nor parallel (usually said of two lines). adv. Awry; obliquely; askew. n. (context architecture English) A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, etc., cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place. v

2. 1 (context transitive English) To change or alter in a particular direction. 2 (context transitive English) To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position. 3 (context transitive English) To throw or hurl obliquely. 4 (context intransitive English) To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely. 5 (context intransitive English) To start aside; to shy, as a horse. 6 (context intransitive English) To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously.

v. turn or place at an angle; "the lines on the sheet of paper are skewed" [ant: align]

adj. having an oblique or slanting direction or position; "the picture was skew" [syn: skewed]

Skew may refer to:

In fax systems, skew is the angular deviation of the received frame from rectangularity caused by asynchronism between the scanner and the recorder. This is the same as the angle between the scanning line, or recording line, and the perpendicular to the paper path.

Skew is expressed numerically as the tangent of the deviation angle.

Skew is a term used in antenna engineering. It is a technique to improve the horizontal radiation pattern of a high power transmitter station.

In a high power VHF or UHF station, usually the antenna system is constructed to broadcast to four directions each separated 90° from each other. So the directivity of the antenna system resembles a four leaf clover. While settlements within the main lobe receive enough energy, the energy received by the settlements between the main lobes may be 6 dB less.

One popular method to solve the problem is to skew the antenna panels symmetrically around the central axis of the mast. Usually a skew of λ/4 gives the desired almost-uniform horizontal radiation pattern. But in cases where more than one RF signal is applied to antenna system (via combiner), the improvement in the horizontal radiation pattern may be inadequate for some signals.