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skulk: msg#00010

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: skulk

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The Word of the Day for November 11 is:

skulk \SKULK\ verb
1 : to move in a stealthy or furtive manner
2 *a : to hide or conceal something (as oneself) often out of cowardice or
fear or with sinister intent b chiefly British : malinger

Example sentence:
During the thunderstorm, we realized that we hadn't seen our dog in a
while; when we searched, we found her skulking under the bed.

Did you know?
Here's one for the word-puzzle lovers. Can you name three things that the
word "skulk" has in common with all of these other words: "booth," "brink,"
"cog," "flit," "give,"
"kid," "meek," "scab," "seem," "skull," "snub," and "wing"? If you noticed that
all of the terms on that list have just one syllable, then you've got the first
(easy) similarity, but the next two are likely to prove a little harder to
guess. Give up? All of the words listed above are of Scandinavian origin and
all were first recorded in English in the 13th century. As for "skulk," its
closest Scandinavian relative is Norwegian dialect "skulka," which means "to
lie in wait" or "lurk."

* Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.






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