" askance "

[Adverb]  | "askance" | \ ə-ˈskan(t)s \

1: with disapproval or distrust : scornfully

2: with a side-glance : obliquely

Origin: circa 1530 ;

 Probably a sense development (influenced by asqwynt "obliquely, {see: |askew|askew}," and phonetically similar words) of earlier and Middle English askaunce, a-skans, a-skaunces "in such a way that, as if, as if to say, artificially, deceptively," from as- {see: |as:1|as:1} + Old French quanses, canses "as if, appearing as though," from quanse-, canse- (going back to Latin quam sī "as if") + -s, adverbial suffix;

  * Note : Evidence for quanses/canses, etc., is lacking in Anglo-French, suggesting that Middle English a-skaunces may not have been directly borrowed from French; rather, the model for the word may have been Middle Dutch als quansis with the same sense, with quansis perhaps borrowed from French dialects adjacent to Dutch (cf. fé lès qwanses "to pretend," Walloon of Liège according to Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, vol. 2, p. 1416).;

[Idiom]  | "look askance at" 

1: to be doubtful about

[Adverb]  | "askance"