look askance at (someone or something)
To view or regard something in a disapproving or distrustful manner. I can't understand why everyone in this club is looking askance at me. Am I not wearing the right clothes? Some people look askance at these institutions, but I believe they are beneficial to the public.
look askance at someone or something
Fig. to be surprised or shocked at someone or something. The teacher looked askance at the student who had acted so rudely. Everyone had looked askance at her efforts as an artist.
look askance
View with mistrust, as in They looked askance at him when he said he'd just made a million in the stock market. The precise feeling conveyed by this expression has varied since it was first used in the 1500s, from envy to contempt to suspicion, although the literal meaning was "look obliquely, with a side glance." The present sense dates from about 1800. Also see look sideways.