Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice or bad conscience; lurk.
  • intransitive verb To move about stealthily.
  • intransitive verb To evade work or obligation; shirk.
  • noun A group of foxes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To withdraw into a corner or into a close or obscure place for concealment; lie close or hidden from shame, fear of injury or detection, or desire to injure another; shrink or sneak away from danger or work; lurk.
  • To produce or bring forward clandestinely or improperly.
  • noun Same as skulker.
  • noun A number of foxes together; hence, a number of other animals or of persons together: as, a skulk of thieves.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lie close, or to move in a furtive way; to lurk.
  • noun One who, or that which, skulks.
  • noun A number of foxes together.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a group of foxes
  • noun one who skulks; a skulker
  • verb to conceal oneself; to hide
  • verb to sneak around, sneak about
  • verb to shirk; to avoid obligation

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
  • verb avoid responsibilities and duties, e.g., by pretending to be ill
  • verb move stealthily

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English skulken, of Scandinavian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English skulken, of Scandinavian origin

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Examples

  • The word skulk has appeared in 11 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Dec. 18 in the Opinion piece "The Grim Good Cheer of the Irish" by John Banville:

    NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2012

  • Learn more about the word "skulk" and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary.com dictionary.

    NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2012

  • Mexico's bicentennial tower knew what people were saying, it might slink off and hide if 341 feet of stone could skulk, that is.

    News - latimes.com By Ke 2012

  • a number of foxes a "skulk" are mysteries of philology into which I will not enter.

    Amusements in Mathematics Henry Ernest Dudeney 1893

  • Add this to his slightly animalistic eating habits, and his tendency to wander out of the hospital and skulk in the bushes, and Justin was a puzzle like no other.

    Forever Lost Franklin W. Dixon 2011

  • Add this to his slightly animalistic eating habits, and his tendency to wander out of the hospital and skulk in the bushes, and Justin was a puzzle like no other.

    Forever Lost Franklin W. Dixon 2011

  • OK, there was the time I was driving my crotch rocket without a tag, cause I thought it would be helpful if I was ever being chased, to not have a tag, and they chased me for about 20miles till I cranked her up to 160mph, got some clearance and turned down a back road till it got dark and I could skulk back to my Garage ...

    The Volokh Conspiracy » When a Police Officer Pulls Over a Law Student 2010

  • They spent the next three weeks in what Betty called the “never-never land” of secret OSS training schools, a series of safe houses scattered all over the Virginia area where they were taught how to make false documents, skulk around corners while following people, arrange secret meetings, and question suspects.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • Now they skulk about Starbucks in skinny jeans and hoodies and Chuck Taylors.

    TWILIGHT SAGA NEWS FOR OCTOBER 22ND | Open Society Book Club Discussions and Reviews 2009

  • In this mad, mad world, decency and respect triumphed -- if only for a day -- silencing the wing nuts, who seem to skulk everywhere.

    Penelope Andrew: HuffPost Review: Oscar-Winner In a Better World, and Remembering Elizabeth Taylor Penelope Andrew 2011

Comments

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  • A group of foxes

    November 16, 2007

  • Whenever I hear this word, I think of some college friends who tickled themselves to death by uttering the following sentence (context not important): "He can't very well skulk out of the dining hall, entrails in tow!"

    March 20, 2008

  • You had entrails in your college dining hall?

    March 20, 2008

  • I don't know how anybody/anycreature could sneak around with a word as clumsy and boulder-footed as this. Besides, it resembles skunk so much that I think you'd smell a skulk from half a mile away.

    March 20, 2008

  • Boulder-footed? I love it! Oh, ha, ha, ha!

    March 20, 2008

  • With this I left him, and skulked out of the town, not paying my respects tomy other benefactors; but giving them a thousand blessings from my heart.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 1 ch. 13

    September 12, 2008

  • This is what my cat does in the back yard!

    November 5, 2009