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  1. shirk love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To avoid or neglect (a duty or responsibility).
  2. v. To avoid work or duty.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To practise mean or artful tricks; live by one's wits; shark.
  2. To avoid unfairly or meanly the performance of some labor or duty.
  3. To procure by mean tricks; shark.
  4. To avoid or get off from unfairly or meanly; slink away from: as, to shirk responsibility.
  5. n. One who lives by shifts or tricks. See shark.
  6. n. One who seeks to avoid duty.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive To avoid, especially a duty, responsibility, etc.; to stay away from.
  2. n. one who shirks
  3. n. Islam the unforgivable sin of idolatry

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation.
  2. v. To avoid; to escape; to neglect; -- implying unfaithfulness or fraud.
  3. v. To live by shifts and fraud; to shark.
  4. v. To evade an obligation; to avoid the performance of duty, as by running away.
  5. n. One who lives by shifts and tricks; one who avoids the performance of duty or labor.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. avoid (one's assigned duties)
  2. v. avoid dealing with

Etymologies

  1. First attested use in 1625 – 1635, apparently from association with shark (verb form), or from German Schurke ("rogue, knave"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Perhaps from German Schurke, scoundrel; akin to Old High German fiurscurgo, demon : fiur, fire + scurigen, to stir up. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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  • titi "We, as a nation, cannot afford to shirk responsibility any longer," Mar 30, 2009

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‘shirk’ has been looked up 3451 times, loved by 5 people, added to 51 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 12.