verb (used with object)
- to evade (work, duty, responsibility, etc.).
verb (used without object)
- to evade work, duty, etc.
noun
- a shirker.
verb
- to avoid discharging (work, a duty, etc); evade
noun Also: shirker
- a person who shirks
noun
- Islam
- the fundamental sin of regarding anything as equal to Allah
- any belief that is considered to be in opposition to Allah and Islam
1630s, “to practice fraud or trickery,” also a noun (1630s, now obsolete) “a needy, disreputable parasite” [OED], perhaps from German schurke “scoundrel, rogue, knave, villain” (see shark (n.)). Sense of “evade one’s work or duty” first recorded 1785, originally in slang. Related: Shirked; shirking.