skive

Meanings

Verb

• To avoid one's lessons or work ; shirk.
• To pare or shave off the rough or thick parts of.

Noun

• Something very easy, where one can slack off without penalty.
• An act of avoiding lessons or work.
• A rotating iron disk coated with oil and diamond dust used to polish the facets of a diamond.
• An angled cut or bevel at the edge of something.

Related

Similar words

• skive off
• skip
• play hooky

Origin

• Probably from French esquiver, from Middle French esquiver, from Spanish esquivar, from esquivo, itself from Old French eschiver, of origin, from Gothic *𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍃, from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz. Cognate with English shy, eschew.
• Probably from Dutch schijf ("slice"), probably influenced by shive. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skībǭ.
• Cognate to English shive, German Scheibe ("slice"), Old Norse skífa ("to cut into slices, slice").