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skive

Pronunciation: /ˈskaɪv/

The English word “skive” has 6 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To avoid one's lessons or work (chiefly at school or university); shirk.
  2. To pare or shave off the rough or thick parts of.

noun

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

Etymology

Probably from French esquiver (“slink away”), from Middle French esquiver (“to escape”), from Spanish esquivar (“to avoid, reject, elude”), from esquivo (“contemptuous, loathsome”), itself from Old French eschiver, of East Germanic origin, from Gothic *𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌿𐌷𐍃 (*skiuhs, “afraid, barefaced”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“afraid, frightened”). Cognate with English shy, eschew.

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