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1972, R. M. Koster, chapter 43, in The Prince,, New York: Morrow, page 320:
[…] a skulk of priests flapped out of the Church of San Geronimo, and women kneeling at novena put away their beads […]
1982, Richard Girling, “1160: Chivalry”, in The Forest on the Hill, New York: Viking, page 69:
The law was served by a skulk of informers, who traded their whispers to the royal foresters and woodwards, who gilded their tales for the verderers and regarders, who presented the guilty to the forest Justices.
[…] they went on, down the road, staggering, and shouldering each other, like a skulk of Jacobean villains.
2004, Micah L. Sifry, Nancy Watzman, chapter 24, in Is That a Politician in Your Pocket?, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pages 200–201:
Ten days after the attacks, a skulk of insurance executives met with President Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to press for the creation of a multibillion-dollar government safety net to limit their exposure to future terrorist incidents.
1857, Jacob S. C. Abbott, History of King Philip, Sovereign Chief of the Wampanoags, New York: Harper, Chapter , p. 369:
A part of their company, who had been sent out on a skulk, had not returned, and great anxiety was felt lest they had fallen into an ambush and been captured.
1902, Frederic Remington, chapter 18, in John Ermine of the Yellowstone, New York: Macmillan, page 246:
There was only the danger that his horse might lame himself in the night; but then he could go back in the hills and make a skulk on foot.
1859, George Little, chapter 3, in The American Cruiser’s Own Book, Philadelphia: J.B. Smith, page 36:
[They took] good care […] to swing their hammocks as far abaft as possible, for the twofold purpose of having a skulk in their watch below at night, and to keep clear of the sprays, which usually pour down the gratings […]
1867, James Greenwood, chapter 15, in Humphrey Dyot, volume 1, London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, page 224:
“This nonsense won’t do for me, you know; if you want a skulk, you had better pack off back to the house.”
1879, anonymous author, chapter 7, in Convict Life; or, Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons, London: Wyman & Sons:
Bidwell is not the only one who feigns paralysis; many poison their flesh by inserting in it copper-wire or worsted; others swallow ground glass, eat poisonous insects, swallow soap and soda, or slightly maim and disable themselves. Anything by which they can secure a skulk, and escape from what Mr. Carlyle has wisely called the “sacredness of work.”
Toward evening there was something to be done on deck, and the carpenter who belonged to the watch was missing. “Where’s that skulk, Chips?” shouted Jermin down the forecastle scuttle.
1872, Sallie F. Chapin, chapter 7, in Fitz-Hugh St. Clair, the South Carolina Rebel Boy, Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, page 75:
If you should ever need help, my son, let this be your rule—‘never ask it from the man who deserted his country in her hour of need.’ The soldier’s child will find no mercy from a skulk, depend on it.
1906, Henry E. Shepherd, Life of Robert Edward Lee, New York: Neale, Part 3, p. 62:
An exempt, a skulk, or one upon whom rested the faintest suspicion of evading duty or shrinking in the critical hour of impending battle, was the special object of his wrath.
Verb
skulk (third-person singular simple presentskulks, present participleskulking, simple past and past participleskulked)
To stay where one cannot be seen, conceal oneself (often in a cowardly way or with the intent of doing harm).
Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughing with a sigh?—a note infallible Of breaking honesty—horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Behind dingy blind and curtain, in upper story and garret, skulking more or less under false names, false hair, false titles, false jewellery, and false histories, a colony of brigands lie in their first sleep.
Stephen's craze for physical culture increased, and now it began to invade the schoolroom. Dumb-bells appeared in the schoolroom bookcases, while half worn-out gym shoes skulked in the corners.
He has been seen with her, by one whom he would not know, at Cuper’s Gardens; dressed like a Sea-officer, and skulking, like a thief, into the privatest walks of the place.
Sir Francis Clavering made his appearance, and skulked for a while about the magnificent rooms; but the company and the splendour which he met there were not to the Baronet’s taste […]
Generally, women can’t do this, but men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men. Unrecognizable.
Let discipline employ her wholesome arts, Let magistrates alert perform their parts, Not skulk or put on a prudential mask, As if their duty were a desp’rate task;
They are paid about three shillings a day for ten hours’ work—it is hard work, especially in windy weather, and there is no skulking, for an inspector comes round frequently to see that the men are on their beats.