scrimshankern.
/ˈskrɪmʃaŋkə/, U.S. /ˈskrɪmˌʃæŋkər/ Originally Military slang.
A person who avoids his or her work or responsibilities; a shirker. Cf. scrimshank n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > [noun] > avoiding an action or condition > avoiding duty, work, or exertion > one who
skulkc1320
loundererc1425
old soldier1722
malingerer1785
skulker1785
shirker1799
shirk1818
slink1824
schemer1843
sconcer1843
scrimshanker1882
scrimshank1886
sooner1892
Weary Willie1896
slacker1898
slackster1901
sugarer1904
work-shy1904
gold brick1905
tired Tim (also Timothy)1906
lead-swinger1917
piker1917
gold-bricker1919
slinker1919
poler1938
skiver1941
1882 Jrnl. Royal United Service Inst. 26 94 Those gentlemen, who may be all included under the common name of ‘Skrim Shankers’, will go, and will be a very good riddance of very bad rubbish.
1932 W. H. Auden Orators i. 19 We simply can't afford any passengers or skrimshankers.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 299 Brigade expects us to clean up the house for them. I should have thought some of those half-shaven scrimshankers I see lounging round Headquarters might have saved us the trouble.
2009 Express (Nexis) 16 May (Leader section) 16 Shameless scrimshankers have occupied safe seats for decades denying voters the chance of a decent MP.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1882