See skulk in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for skulk meaning in English (18.1kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "skulke, skulken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English skulke, skulken",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmq",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "North Germanic",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "skulke",
"3": "",
"4": "shirk"
},
"expansion": "Danish skulke (“shirk”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "skolka",
"3": "",
"4": "play truant"
},
"expansion": "Swedish skolka (“play truant”)",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English skulke, skulken, of North Germanic origin; compare Danish skulke (“shirk”), Swedish skolka (“play truant”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "skulks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "skulk (plural skulks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "28 5 14 10 3 11 11 13 5",
"kind": "lifeform",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Foxes",
"orig": "en:Foxes",
"parents": [
"Canids",
"Carnivores",
"Mammals",
"Vertebrates",
"Chordates",
"Animals",
"Lifeforms",
"All topics",
"Life",
"Fundamental",
"Nature"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1973, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 1, in Gravity’s Rainbow, Penguin, published 2000, pages 59–60",
"text": "A skulk of foxes, a cowardice of curs are tonight’s traffic whispering in the yards and lanes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2007, Millard Kaufman, chapter 19, in Bowl of Cherries, San Francisco: McSweeney’s Books, page 128",
"text": "A skulk of fox padded daintily over a stream-slashed meadow, and a herd of deer like iron ornaments stood stock still in their winter pelage.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of foxes."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-g7G4jtkr",
"links": [
[
"fox",
"fox"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1972, R. M. Koster, chapter 43, in The Prince,, New York: Morrow, page 320",
"text": "[…] a skulk of priests flapped out of the Church of San Geronimo, and women kneeling at novena put away their beads […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1982, Richard Girling, “1160: Chivalry”, in The Forest on the Hill, New York: Viking, page 69",
"text": "The law was served by a skulk of informers, who traded their whispers to the royal foresters and woodwards, who gilded their tales for the verderers and regarders, who presented the guilty to the forest Justices.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2000, John Banville, Eclipse, New York: Knopf, published 2001, Part 5, p. 190",
"text": "[…] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004, Micah L. Sifry, Nancy Watzman, chapter 24, in Is That a Politician in Your Pocket?, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pages 200–201",
"text": "Ten days after the attacks, a skulk of insurance executives met with President Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to press for the creation of a multibillion-dollar government safety net to limit their exposure to future terrorist incidents.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans)."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-BT63Wrgc",
"links": [
[
"e.g.",
"e.g."
],
[
"cunning",
"cunning"
],
[
"dishonest",
"dishonest"
],
[
"nefarious",
"nefarious"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans)."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "1 7 27 12 1 13 10 26 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 6 22 13 2 16 15 22 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1857, Jacob S. C. Abbott, History of King Philip, Sovereign Chief of the Wampanoags, New York: Harper, Chapter, p. 369",
"text": "A part of their company, who had been sent out on a skulk, had not returned, and great anxiety was felt lest they had fallen into an ambush and been captured.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1902, Frederic Remington, chapter 18, in John Ermine of the Yellowstone, New York: Macmillan, page 246",
"text": "There was only the danger that his horse might lame himself in the night; but then he could go back in the hills and make a skulk on foot.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1922, Henry Williamson, “The Opening of the Flower”, in Dandelion Days, London: W. Collins, page 120",
"text": "Willie knew that the time was propitious for a skulk across Hall, thence into the class-room of Mr. Beach.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, New York: Random House, Prologue, p. xix",
"text": "That gave him three or four more hours of darkness in which to plan an escape more sensible than a skulk to the hut next door.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"The act of moving in a stealthy or furtive way."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-HcEoIviP",
"links": [
[
"stealthy",
"stealthy"
],
[
"furtive",
"furtive"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "1 7 27 12 1 13 10 26 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 6 22 13 2 16 15 22 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1987, Lloyd Alexander, chapter 5, in The Illyrian Adventure, New York: Dell, page 32",
"text": "His gait was something between a slouch and a skulk.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Toni Morrison, Love, New York: Knopf, page 109",
"text": "Romen had developed a kind of strut to replace his former skulk.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"A stealthy or furtive gait or way of moving."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-pvA-pxvO",
"links": [
[
"gait",
"gait"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1859, George Little, chapter 3, in The American Cruiser’s Own Book, Philadelphia: J.B. Smith, page 36",
"text": "[They took] good care […] to swing their hammocks as far abaft as possible, for the twofold purpose of having a skulk in their watch below at night, and to keep clear of the sprays, which usually pour down the gratings […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1867, James Greenwood, chapter 15, in Humphrey Dyot, volume 1, London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, page 224",
"text": "This nonsense won’t do for me, you know; if you want a skulk, you had better pack off back to the house.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1879, anonymous author, chapter 7, in Convict Life; or, Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons, London: Wyman & Sons",
"text": "Bidwell is not the only one who feigns paralysis; many poison their flesh by inserting in it copper-wire or worsted; others swallow ground glass, eat poisonous insects, swallow soap and soda, or slightly maim and disable themselves. Anything by which they can secure a skulk, and escape from what Mr. Carlyle has wisely called the “sacredness of work.”",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"The act of avoiding an obligation or responsibility."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-RXWWSQo8",
"links": [
[
"obligation",
"obligation"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Military",
"orig": "en:Military",
"parents": [
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Nautical",
"orig": "en:Nautical",
"parents": [
"Transport",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "1 7 27 12 1 13 10 26 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 6 22 13 2 16 15 22 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "."
},
{
"ref": "1832, Frederick Marryat, chapter 16, in Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service, volume 1, London: James Cochrane, page 238",
"text": "“I shall do my duty, Mr. Jackson,” replied Newton, “and fear no consequences.”\n“Indeed! you saw how I settled a skulk just now;—beware of his fate!”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1847, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Omoo, New York: Harper, page 32",
"text": "Toward evening there was something to be done on deck, and the carpenter who belonged to the watch was missing. “Where’s that skulk, Chips?” shouted Jermin down the forecastle scuttle.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1872, Sallie F. Chapin, chapter 7, in Fitz-Hugh St. Clair, the South Carolina Rebel Boy, Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, page 75",
"text": "If you should ever need help, my son, let this be your rule—‘never ask it from the man who deserted his country in her hour of need.’ The soldier’s child will find no mercy from a skulk, depend on it.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Henry E. Shepherd, Life of Robert Edward Lee, New York: Neale, Part 3, p. 62",
"text": "An exempt, a skulk, or one upon whom rested the faintest suspicion of evading duty or shrinking in the critical hour of impending battle, was the special object of his wrath.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One who avoids an obligation or responsibility."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-noun-OIxukyUb",
"links": [
[
"nautical",
"nautical"
],
[
"military",
"military"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete, chiefly nautical, military) One who avoids an obligation or responsibility."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "shirk"
},
{
"word": "shirker"
},
{
"word": "skulker"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"nautical",
"politics",
"transport",
"war"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skʌlk/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌlk"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-skulk.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "skulk"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "skulke, skulken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English skulke, skulken",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmq",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "North Germanic",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "skulke",
"3": "",
"4": "shirk"
},
"expansion": "Danish skulke (“shirk”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "skolka",
"3": "",
"4": "play truant"
},
"expansion": "Swedish skolka (“play truant”)",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English skulke, skulken, of North Germanic origin; compare Danish skulke (“shirk”), Swedish skolka (“play truant”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "skulks",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "skulking",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "skulked",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "skulked",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "skulk (third-person singular simple present skulks, present participle skulking, simple past and past participle skulked)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "1 7 27 12 1 13 10 26 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 6 22 13 2 16 15 22 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1928, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 6, in The Well of Loneliness, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Covici Friede Publishers, October 1932, →OCLC, book 1, section 5, page 60",
"text": "Stephen's craze for physical culture increased, and now it began to invade the schoolroom. Dumb-bells appeared in the schoolroom bookcases, while half worn-out gym shoes skulked in the corners.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To stay where one cannot be seen, conceal oneself (often in a cowardly way or with the intent of doing harm)."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-verb-4Q1d5uKB",
"links": [
[
"cowardly",
"cowardly"
],
[
"harm",
"harm"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "hide"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "spotajvam se",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "спотайвам се"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "krija se zad gǎrba na njakogo",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "крия се зад гърба на някого"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "rondar"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "dardar"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "potulovat se"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "verbergen"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "verstoppen"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "piileskellä"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lymyillä"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "se cacher"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "esculcar"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "asexar"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "sich verstecken"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "imboscarsi"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "nascondersi"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lateō"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "whakatarapeke"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "motutoke"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "esgueirar"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "prjátatʹsja",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "пря́таться"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "krástʹsja",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "кра́сться"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "merodear"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lurpassa"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "llechu"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 20 2",
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "llercian"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "1 7 27 12 1 13 10 26 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 6 22 13 2 16 15 22 3",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 4, Letter 38, p. 266",
"text": "He has been seen with her, by one whom he would not know, at Cuper’s Gardens; dressed like a Sea-officer, and skulking, like a thief, into the privatest walks of the place.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1800, Friedrich Schiller, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Piccolomini, or The First Part of Wallenstein, London: Longman and Rees, act V, scene 4, page 196",
"text": "Noble brother, I am\nNot one of those men who in words are valiant,\nAnd when it comes to action skulk away.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1904, Paul Laurence Dunbar, “The Lynching of Jube Benson”, in The Heart of Happy Hollow, New York: Dodd, Mead, page 233",
"text": "Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening toward the woods and noted his skulking air [...]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To move in a stealthy or furtive way; to come or go while trying to avoid detection."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-verb-713Fp46n",
"links": [
[
"stealthy",
"stealthy"
],
[
"furtive",
"furtive"
],
[
"detection",
"detection"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sneak"
},
{
"word": "steal"
}
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"To avoid an obligation or responsibility."
],
"id": "en-skulk-en-verb-x4uiMU46",
"links": [
[
"obligation",
"obligation"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "shirk"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skʌlk/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌlk"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-skulk.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "skulk"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 1-syllable words",
"English collective nouns",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms derived from North Germanic languages",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English verbs",
"Rhymes:English/ʌlk",
"Rhymes:English/ʌlk/1 syllable",
"en:Foxes"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "skulke, skulken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English skulke, skulken",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmq",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "North Germanic",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "skulke",
"3": "",
"4": "shirk"
},
"expansion": "Danish skulke (“shirk”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "skolka",
"3": "",
"4": "play truant"
},
"expansion": "Swedish skolka (“play truant”)",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English skulke, skulken, of North Germanic origin; compare Danish skulke (“shirk”), Swedish skolka (“play truant”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "skulks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "skulk (plural skulks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1973, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 1, in Gravity’s Rainbow, Penguin, published 2000, pages 59–60",
"text": "A skulk of foxes, a cowardice of curs are tonight’s traffic whispering in the yards and lanes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2007, Millard Kaufman, chapter 19, in Bowl of Cherries, San Francisco: McSweeney’s Books, page 128",
"text": "A skulk of fox padded daintily over a stream-slashed meadow, and a herd of deer like iron ornaments stood stock still in their winter pelage.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of foxes."
],
"links": [
[
"fox",
"fox"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1972, R. M. Koster, chapter 43, in The Prince,, New York: Morrow, page 320",
"text": "[…] a skulk of priests flapped out of the Church of San Geronimo, and women kneeling at novena put away their beads […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1982, Richard Girling, “1160: Chivalry”, in The Forest on the Hill, New York: Viking, page 69",
"text": "The law was served by a skulk of informers, who traded their whispers to the royal foresters and woodwards, who gilded their tales for the verderers and regarders, who presented the guilty to the forest Justices.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2000, John Banville, Eclipse, New York: Knopf, published 2001, Part 5, p. 190",
"text": "[…] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004, Micah L. Sifry, Nancy Watzman, chapter 24, in Is That a Politician in Your Pocket?, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pages 200–201",
"text": "Ten days after the attacks, a skulk of insurance executives met with President Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to press for the creation of a multibillion-dollar government safety net to limit their exposure to future terrorist incidents.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans)."
],
"links": [
[
"e.g.",
"e.g."
],
[
"cunning",
"cunning"
],
[
"dishonest",
"dishonest"
],
[
"nefarious",
"nefarious"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively) A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans)."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1857, Jacob S. C. Abbott, History of King Philip, Sovereign Chief of the Wampanoags, New York: Harper, Chapter, p. 369",
"text": "A part of their company, who had been sent out on a skulk, had not returned, and great anxiety was felt lest they had fallen into an ambush and been captured.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1902, Frederic Remington, chapter 18, in John Ermine of the Yellowstone, New York: Macmillan, page 246",
"text": "There was only the danger that his horse might lame himself in the night; but then he could go back in the hills and make a skulk on foot.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1922, Henry Williamson, “The Opening of the Flower”, in Dandelion Days, London: W. Collins, page 120",
"text": "Willie knew that the time was propitious for a skulk across Hall, thence into the class-room of Mr. Beach.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, New York: Random House, Prologue, p. xix",
"text": "That gave him three or four more hours of darkness in which to plan an escape more sensible than a skulk to the hut next door.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"The act of moving in a stealthy or furtive way."
],
"links": [
[
"stealthy",
"stealthy"
],
[
"furtive",
"furtive"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1987, Lloyd Alexander, chapter 5, in The Illyrian Adventure, New York: Dell, page 32",
"text": "His gait was something between a slouch and a skulk.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Toni Morrison, Love, New York: Knopf, page 109",
"text": "Romen had developed a kind of strut to replace his former skulk.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"A stealthy or furtive gait or way of moving."
],
"links": [
[
"gait",
"gait"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1859, George Little, chapter 3, in The American Cruiser’s Own Book, Philadelphia: J.B. Smith, page 36",
"text": "[They took] good care […] to swing their hammocks as far abaft as possible, for the twofold purpose of having a skulk in their watch below at night, and to keep clear of the sprays, which usually pour down the gratings […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1867, James Greenwood, chapter 15, in Humphrey Dyot, volume 1, London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, page 224",
"text": "This nonsense won’t do for me, you know; if you want a skulk, you had better pack off back to the house.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1879, anonymous author, chapter 7, in Convict Life; or, Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons, London: Wyman & Sons",
"text": "Bidwell is not the only one who feigns paralysis; many poison their flesh by inserting in it copper-wire or worsted; others swallow ground glass, eat poisonous insects, swallow soap and soda, or slightly maim and disable themselves. Anything by which they can secure a skulk, and escape from what Mr. Carlyle has wisely called the “sacredness of work.”",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The act of skulking.",
"The act of avoiding an obligation or responsibility."
],
"links": [
[
"obligation",
"obligation"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned",
"en:Military",
"en:Nautical"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "."
},
{
"ref": "1832, Frederick Marryat, chapter 16, in Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service, volume 1, London: James Cochrane, page 238",
"text": "“I shall do my duty, Mr. Jackson,” replied Newton, “and fear no consequences.”\n“Indeed! you saw how I settled a skulk just now;—beware of his fate!”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1847, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Omoo, New York: Harper, page 32",
"text": "Toward evening there was something to be done on deck, and the carpenter who belonged to the watch was missing. “Where’s that skulk, Chips?” shouted Jermin down the forecastle scuttle.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1872, Sallie F. Chapin, chapter 7, in Fitz-Hugh St. Clair, the South Carolina Rebel Boy, Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, page 75",
"text": "If you should ever need help, my son, let this be your rule—‘never ask it from the man who deserted his country in her hour of need.’ The soldier’s child will find no mercy from a skulk, depend on it.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Henry E. Shepherd, Life of Robert Edward Lee, New York: Neale, Part 3, p. 62",
"text": "An exempt, a skulk, or one upon whom rested the faintest suspicion of evading duty or shrinking in the critical hour of impending battle, was the special object of his wrath.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"One who avoids an obligation or responsibility."
],
"links": [
[
"nautical",
"nautical"
],
[
"military",
"military"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete, chiefly nautical, military) One who avoids an obligation or responsibility."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "shirk"
},
{
"word": "shirker"
},
{
"word": "skulker"
}
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"military",
"nautical",
"politics",
"transport",
"war"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skʌlk/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌlk"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-skulk.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "skulk"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 1-syllable words",
"English collective nouns",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Middle English",
"English terms derived from North Germanic languages",
"English terms inherited from Middle English",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English verbs",
"Rhymes:English/ʌlk",
"Rhymes:English/ʌlk/1 syllable",
"en:Foxes"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "skulke, skulken"
},
"expansion": "Middle English skulke, skulken",
"name": "inh"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmq",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "North Germanic",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "skulke",
"3": "",
"4": "shirk"
},
"expansion": "Danish skulke (“shirk”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "skolka",
"3": "",
"4": "play truant"
},
"expansion": "Swedish skolka (“play truant”)",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Middle English skulke, skulken, of North Germanic origin; compare Danish skulke (“shirk”), Swedish skolka (“play truant”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "skulks",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "skulking",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "skulked",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "skulked",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "skulk (third-person singular simple present skulks, present participle skulking, simple past and past participle skulked)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1928, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 6, in The Well of Loneliness, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Covici Friede Publishers, October 1932, →OCLC, book 1, section 5, page 60",
"text": "Stephen's craze for physical culture increased, and now it began to invade the schoolroom. Dumb-bells appeared in the schoolroom bookcases, while half worn-out gym shoes skulked in the corners.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To stay where one cannot be seen, conceal oneself (often in a cowardly way or with the intent of doing harm)."
],
"links": [
[
"cowardly",
"cowardly"
],
[
"harm",
"harm"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "hide"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 4, Letter 38, p. 266",
"text": "He has been seen with her, by one whom he would not know, at Cuper’s Gardens; dressed like a Sea-officer, and skulking, like a thief, into the privatest walks of the place.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1800, Friedrich Schiller, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Piccolomini, or The First Part of Wallenstein, London: Longman and Rees, act V, scene 4, page 196",
"text": "Noble brother, I am\nNot one of those men who in words are valiant,\nAnd when it comes to action skulk away.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1904, Paul Laurence Dunbar, “The Lynching of Jube Benson”, in The Heart of Happy Hollow, New York: Dodd, Mead, page 233",
"text": "Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening toward the woods and noted his skulking air [...]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To move in a stealthy or furtive way; to come or go while trying to avoid detection."
],
"links": [
[
"stealthy",
"stealthy"
],
[
"furtive",
"furtive"
],
[
"detection",
"detection"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "sneak"
},
{
"word": "steal"
}
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"To avoid an obligation or responsibility."
],
"links": [
[
"obligation",
"obligation"
],
[
"responsibility",
"responsibility"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "shirk"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/skʌlk/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌlk"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-skulk.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-skulk.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "spotajvam se",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "спотайвам се"
},
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "krija se zad gǎrba na njakogo",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "крия се зад гърба на някого"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "rondar"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "dardar"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "potulovat se"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "verbergen"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "verstoppen"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "piileskellä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lymyillä"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "se cacher"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "esculcar"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "asexar"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "sich verstecken"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "imboscarsi"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "nascondersi"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lateō"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "whakatarapeke"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "motutoke"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "esgueirar"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "prjátatʹsja",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "пря́таться"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "krástʹsja",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "кра́сться"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "merodear"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "lurpassa"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "llechu"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "to conceal oneself; to hide",
"word": "llercian"
}
],
"word": "skulk"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.