[squinch] vb [prob. blend of squint and pinch] vt (1835) 1: to screw up (the eyes or face): squint
2. a: to make more compact b: to cause to crouch down or draw together ~ vi 1: flinch
2: to crouch down or draw together
3: squint
[2]squinch n [alter. of earlier scunch back part of the side of an opening] (ca. 1840): a support (as an arch, lintel, or corbeling) carried across the corner of a room under a superimposed mass