squinter

1 8.9

A person whose eyes do not point in the same direction

noun
/ˈskwɪntər/

: bizco

Children sometimes tease a squinter, not understanding that it's a medical condition.

Examples

Squinter?

Cutthroat Island (1995)
The doctor explained that a squinter has difficulty seeing clearly due to misaligned eyes.
As a squinter, she often had to adjust her gaze to focus on objects.

Synonyms

squint-eye

vssquinter

9.9

A person whose eyes do not line up and point in different directions

is the same meaning but written without a hyphen

Surface Forms

squinter singular

squinter plural

Morphology

squinter = squint (semi-transparent) = squint + er

The word is built regularly from 'squint' + '-er', but the sense 'a person with strabismus' is slightly specialized rather than a simple active-agent meaning.

Etymology

The word squinter comes from the verb squint, which means 'to look with partly closed or uneven eyes'. So a squinter is simply someone whose eyes do not 'line up' properly.