skulk
/skʌlk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/skʊlk/
skulk noun: a group of foxes.
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Noun
skulk (plural skulks)
- A group of foxes.
- A skulk of foxes, a cowardice of curs are tonight’s traffic whispering in the yards and lanes.1973, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 1, in Gravity's Rainbow, 1st US edition, New York: Viking Press, →ISBN
- 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.2007, Millard Kaufman, chapter 19, in Bowl of Cherries, San Francisco: McSweeney’s Books, page 128
- A group of people seen as being fox-like (e.g. cunning, dishonest, or having nefarious plans).
- […] a skulk of priests flapped out of the Church of San Geronimo, and women kneeling at novena put away their beads […]1972, R. M. Koster, chapter 43, in The Prince,, New York: Morrow, page 320
- 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.1982, Richard Girling, “1160: Chivalry”, in The Forest on the Hill, New York: Viking, page 69
- The act of moving in a stealthy or furtive way.
- 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.1857, Jacob S. C. Abbott, History of King Philip, Sovereign Chief of the Wampanoags, New York: Harper, Chapter , p. 369
- 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.1902, Frederic Remington, chapter 18, in John Ermine of the Yellowstone, New York: Macmillan, page 246
- A stealthy or furtive gait or way of moving.
- His gait was something between a slouch and a skulk.1987, Lloyd Alexander, chapter 5, in The Illyrian Adventure, New York: Dell, page 32
- Romen had developed a kind of strut to replace his former skulk.2003, Toni Morrison, Love, New York: Knopf, page 109
- The act of avoiding an obligation or responsibility.
- [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 […]1859, George Little, chapter 3, in The American Cruiser’s Own Book, Philadelphia: J.B. Smith, page 36
- “This nonsense won’t do for me, you know; if you want a skulk, you had better pack off back to the house.”1867, James Greenwood, chapter 15, in Humphrey Dyot, volume 1, London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, page 224
- One who avoids an obligation or responsibility.
- .
- "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!"1832, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XVI, in Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service. […], volume I, London: James Cochrane and Co., […], →OCLC, page 238
Verb
skulk (third-person singular simple present skulks, present participle skulking, simple past and past participle skulked)
- To stay where one cannot be seen, conceal oneself (often in a cowardly way or with the intent of doing harm).
- Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughing with a sigh?—a note infallible
Of breaking honesty—horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount... - Discover’d and defeated of your Prey,
You sculk’d behind the Fence, and sneak’d away.1697, Virgil, “The Third Pastoral or, Palaemon”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 11
- Synonyms:
- hide
- Is whispering nothing?
- To move in a stealthy or furtive way; to come or go while trying to avoid detection.
- The residue like vnto the bare arssed rebels sculked to and fro; but in the end, they and the others were all dispersed, & durst not to appeare.1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 142
- 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.1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 4, Letter 38, p. 266
- To avoid an obligation or responsibility.
- Let discipline employ her wholesome arts,
Let magistrates alert perform their parts,
Not skulk or put on a prudential mask,
As if their duty were a desp’rate task;1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 17 - They are paid about three shillings a day for ten hours’ work—it is hard work, especially in windy weather, and there is no skulking, for an inspector comes round frequently to see that the men are on their beats.1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXIII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- shirk
- Let discipline employ her wholesome arts,
skulk meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
skulk in Tamil
- நகர்
skulk in Bengali
- লুকিয়ে থাকা, ওত পেতে থাকা
skulk in Malayalam
- loiter, lurk, hide
- പതുങ്ങിനീങ്ങുക, പതുങ്ങുക, ഒളിച്ചിരിക്കുക, പതിയിരിക്കുക, പതുങ്ങിയിരിക്കുക, ഒളിച്ചുകളിക്കുക
skulk in Kannada
- ತಲೆಮರೆಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಅಡಗು, ತಲೆಮರೆಸಿ ಅಡ್ಡಾಡು, ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಜಾರಿಕೊಳ್ಳು, ಅವಿತುಕೊಳ್ಳು
Examples of skulk in a sentence
- […] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.2000, John Banville, Eclipse, New York: Knopf, published 2001, Part 5, p. 190:
- Willie knew that the time was propitious for a skulk across Hall, thence into the class-room of Mr.1920 December – 1921 September (date written), Henry Williamson, “Back Again”, in Dandelion Days, London; Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons &...
- 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.2012, Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, New York: Random House, Prologue, p. xix:
- Anything by which they can secure a skulk, and escape from what Mr.1879, anonymous author, chapter 7, in Convict Life; or, Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons, London: Wyman & Sons:
Synonyms of skulk
Forms of skulk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | skulks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | skulks |
| present participle | skulking |
| past participle | skulked |
| past | skulked |
Origin of skulk
From Middle English sculke, skulke, sculken, of North Germanic origin; compare Danish skulke (“shirk”), Swedish skolka (“play truant”).
Words formed from skulk
Words that rhyme with skulk
Questions about skulk
- What does skulk mean?
- Skulk means a group of foxes.
- What is skulk in Tamil?
- Skulk in Tamil is நகர். See Skulk meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use skulk in a sentence?
- […] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.
- What part of speech is skulk?
- Skulk can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce skulk?
- Skulk is pronounced /skʌlk/.
- What is the plural of skulk?
- The plural of skulk is skulks.
Words near skulk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skulk (page history and authors); skulk (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); skulk (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); skulk (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); skulk (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “skulk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skulk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.