Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Shirk

Shirk, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shirked; p. pr. & vb. n. Shirking.] [Probably the same word as shark. See Shark, v. t.] 1. To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation.

You that never heard the call of any vocation, . . . that shirk living from others, but time from Yourselves. Bp. Rainbow.

2. To avoid; to escape; to neglect; — implying unfaithfulness or fraud; as, to shirk duty.

The usual makeshift by which they try to shirk difficulties. Hare.

Shirk, v. i. 1. To live by shifts and fraud; to shark.

2. To evade an obligation; to avoid the performance of duty, as by running away.

One of the cities shirked from the league. Byron.

Shirk, n. One who lives by shifts and tricks; one who avoids the performance of duty or labor.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.