This word is more commonly heard in its verb form, but the noun form sounds interesting as well:
INTRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: skulked, skulk·ing, skulks
1. To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice or bad conscience; lurk.
2. To move about stealthily.
3. To evade work or obligation; shirk.NOUN:
1. One who hides, lurks, or practices evasion.
2. A congregation of vermin, especially foxes, or of thieves. (See synonyms at flock[sup]1[/sup].)ETYMOLOGY: Middle English skulken, of Scandinavian origin.
OTHER FORMS: skulker -NOUN
Scandinavian words have such color!
-Tim
Let a man then know his worth, and keep things under his feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy, a bastard, or an interloper.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. "Self-Reliance", Essays, First Series (1841).
