Scrimshank

verb, slang

verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To shirk duty. UK, slang
  2. 2
    avoid work wordnet

Etymology

Unclear. One hypothesis is that it derives from (the noun scrimshanker, from) scrimp + swanker (old military slang for someone who works hard).

More for "scrimshank"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.