Meaning of Skulk | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A group of foxes.
   collective
2. A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans).
   figuratively
3. The act of skulking.
4. The act of moving in a stealthy or furtive way.
5. A stealthy or furtive gait or way of moving.
6. The act of avoiding an obligation or responsibility.
7. One who avoids an obligation or responsibility.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“A skulk of foxes, a cowardice of curs are tonight’s traffic whispering in the yards and lanes.”

“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.”

“A group of foxes is called a skulk.”

“[…] a skulk of priests flapped out of the Church of San Geronimo, and women kneeling at novena put away their beads […]”

“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.”

“[…] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Willie knew that the time was propitious for a skulk across Hall, thence into the class-room of Mr. Beach.”

“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.”

“His gait was something between a slouch and a skulk.”

“Romen had developed a kind of strut to replace his former skulk.”

“[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 […]”

““This nonsense won’t do for me, you know; if you want a skulk, you had better pack off back to the house.””

“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.””

“"I shall do my duty, Mr. Jackson," replied Newton, "and fear no consequences." / "Indeed! you saw how I settled a skulk just now;—beware of his fate!"”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level