skiver
Definition
- Noun (informal, British English):
- A person who avoids work or responsibility: "skiver" refers to someone who shirks their duties, especially by pretending to be ill or by finding excuses to avoid effort.
- A tool for splitting leather: In technical contexts, "skiver" can denote a knife or machine used to split or thin leather.
Usage Examples
Noun (person):
- He's a complete skiver — he always calls in sick on Mondays. (He habitually avoids work.)
- The manager accused the new employee of being a skiver because he took long breaks. (The employee was blamed for laziness.)
Noun (tool):
- The cobbler used a skiver to thin the leather for the shoe sole. (A tool for splitting leather.)
Advanced Usage
"to be a skiver": to habitually avoid work.
- She was known as a skiver in the office, always disappearing during busy hours. (She had a reputation for laziness.)
"to skive off" (verb phrase): to avoid work or duty by staying away or pretending to be ill.
- He skived off work early to go to the pub. (He left work without permission to avoid his duties.)
Variants and Related Words
- Skive (verb): the action of avoiding work or duty.
- Stop skiving and get back to your desk! (Stop avoiding work.)
- Skiving (noun/gerund): the act of avoiding work.
- His constant skiving annoyed his colleagues. (His repeated avoidance of work.)
- Skiver (noun) — no other common variants beyond the two meanings above.
Synonyms
- Shirker: a person who avoids work or duty.
- Slacker: someone who is lazy or avoids effort.
- Malingerer: a person who pretends to be ill to avoid work (more formal).
- Idler: someone who spends time doing nothing useful.
Phrasal Verbs
- Skive off: to avoid work or duty by staying away.
- They skived off school to go to the cinema. (They deliberately missed school without permission.)
Related Idioms
- "To skive off work": a common phrase meaning to avoid work.
- He skived off work for the third time this month. (He avoided work without a valid reason.)
- "Play the skiver": to act like someone who avoids work.
- Don't play the skiver — everyone knows you're just being lazy. (Don't pretend to be avoiding work legitimately.)