scrimshanker

English

Etymology

From scrimshank +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

scrimshanker (plural scrimshankers)

  1. (UK, military, slang) A shirker; one who scrimshanks.
    • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 142:
      “As good a boy as I want,” said Revere, the admiring skipper. “The best of the batch,” said the Adjutant to the Colonel. “Keep back that young skrimshanker Porkiss, sir, and let Revere make him sit up.”
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