Skives

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To evade or avoid responsibility or commitment
2. A term used in British English meaning to skip class or a scheduled engagement
3. Also refers to a type of leather made from the flesh side of a hide, often used in crafting or upholstery

Etymology: Skive has two unrelated histories, and the one behind "avoiding duties" is the more surprising. It most likely traces back through French "esquiver" ("slink away") to Spanish "esquivar" ("to avoid, reject, elude"), and beyond that to an East Germanic root meaning "afraid" or "barefaced". That same root gave English "shy" and "eschew", so the idea of shrinking away from a task is built into its ancestry. The other sense is older and far more literal. A skive in the sense of a slice comes from Dutch "schijf" ("slice"), from a Proto-Germanic word for a shaving or slice, and it is related to German "Scheibe" and the English "shive". In metalworking, to skive is to cut thin layers or slivers from a material, a sense that shows how a physical act of paring off can become a way of paring away one's obligations.

Synonyms: slices, cuts, shaves, carves

Antonyms: joins, attaches, integrates