shirk¹

(shûrk)

v. shirked, shirk·ing, shirks

v.tr.

To avoid or neglect (a duty or responsibility).

v.intr.

To avoid work or duty.

[Perhaps from German Schurke, scoundrel; akin to Old High German fiurscurgo, demon : fiur, fire + scurigen, to stir up.]

shirk′er n.

shirk²

(shûrk, shîrk)

n. Islam

The sin of offering worship to idols or to any being other than God.

[Arabic širk, association (of an idol) as a partner to God, sharing (of an idol) in the worship due to God alone, shirk, from šarika, to share, associate, be a partner; akin to Akkadian šarāku, to give, bestow and Ugaritic šrk, to associate with.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

shirking - the evasion of work or duty

goldbricking, goofing off, slacking, soldiering

dodging, escape, evasion - nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do; "his evasion of his clear duty was reprehensible"; "that escape from the consequences is possible but unattractive"

Translations

shirking

n → Drückebergerei f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Shirking responsibilities is the curse of our modern life--the secret of all the unrest and discontent that is seething in the world."

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"Search him, some of you shirking lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and get the chest," he cried.

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So he lumped one box thereafter, and so well did he study the art of shirking that he wrote a special chapter on it, with the last several paragraphs devoted to tentative generalizations.

Bill Totts could shirk at a job with clear conscience, while Freddie Drummond condemned shirking as vicious, criminal, and un-American, and devoted whole chapters to condemnation of the vice.

View in context

"Sir," said he, "you do ill to nurse this rancour; the people perish fighting round this our town; you would yourself chide one whom you saw shirking his part in the combat.

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The nurse, however, is determined that, insane or not, there shall be no shirking and that you shall go through your task to the end.

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Shirking and sharking in all their many varieties have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong it was in some off-hand manner never meant to go right.

View in context

Yet he labored stoically on, never shirking, never grunting a hint of complaint.

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There must be no shirking. Now, what departments will we have?

View in context

Years ago, the term "shirking" was used to define the standard regarding the employment choice.

Choice of jobs in a time of full employment

DAVID Beckham has been accused of "shirking his responsibility" as a role model after he avoided prosecution over a speeding charge on a technicality.

Anger over Beckham's ticket dodge

DAVID Beckham has been accused of 'shirking his responsibility' as a role model after he avoided prosecution over a speeding charge on a technicality.

Beckham criticised after speeding trial

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