squinch

Noun

• a small arch built across the interior angle of two walls (usually to support a spire)

Verb

• cross one's eyes as if in strabismus
  • The children squinted so as to scare each other
    

• draw back, as with fear or pain
  • she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf
    

• crouch down

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  squint , flinch , funk , cringe , shrink , wince , recoil , quail