skive

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
skive1 /skʌɪv/ Brit. informal

▶verb avoid work or a duty; shirk. ▶noun an instance of shirking.

■ an easy option.

– derivatives
skiver noun.

– origin early 20th cent.: perh. from Fr. esquiver ‘slink away’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
skive2 /skʌɪv/

▶verb technical pare (the edge of a piece of leather or other material) to reduce its thickness.

– origin C19: from ON skífa; rel. to shive.