eschew
UK /ɛsˈt͡ʃuː/ · US /ɛsˈt͡ʃu/ verb
Forms eschews eschewing eschewed
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver, (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *skiuhijan (“to dread, shun, avoid”); thus a doublet of skew.
For the pronunciation with /ʃ/, compare the development of marshal from Middle English marschal (/marsˈt͡ʃaːl/) or Middle English myssheve, variant of myschef (“hardship”). Variants in /sk/ are either from unattested Middle English *eskewen (from Old Northern French eskiver; compare skew) or are spelling pronunciations.
See also French esquiver.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To shun; to avoid, as something wrong, or from a feeling of distaste; to keep one's self clear of. They must not only eschew evil, but do good. Bp. Beveridge.
- verb To escape from; to avoid. [Obs.]
Etymology [OF. eschever, eschiver, eskiver, F. esquiver, fr. OHG. sciuhen, G. scheuen; akin to E. sky. See Shy, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “eschew”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details