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Skulk vs Lurk - What's the difference?

skulk | lurk |

As nouns the difference between skulk and lurk

is that skulk is a group of foxes while lurk is the act of lurking.

As verbs the difference between skulk and lurk

is that skulk is to conceal oneself; to hide while lurk is to remain concealed in order to ambush.

skulk

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A group of foxes.
  • (Wright)
  • One who skulks; a skulker.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to conceal oneself; to hide
  • * Dryden
  • Discovered and defeated of your prey, / You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away.
  • * 1852 , Charles Dickens, Bleak House ,
  • Behind dingy blind and curtain, in upper story and garret, skulking more or less under false names, false hair, false titles, false jewellery, and false histories, a colony of brigands lie in their first sleep.
  • to sneak around, sneak about
  • * 1904 , Paul Laurence Dunbar,
  • Fully a dozen of the citizens had seen him hastening toward the woods and noted his skulking air [...]
  • to shirk; to avoid obligation
  • lurk

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To remain concealed in order to ambush.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
  • To remain unobserved.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
  • Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into it.
  • To hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
  • if we find the sophist lurking , we must round him up by royal command of the argument
  • (Internet) To view an internet forum without posting comments.
  • Derived terms

    * lurker

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of lurking.
  • * 1921 : George Colby Borley, The Lost Horizon
  • There were enemies on the lurk and time was against him.
  • * 1955 : John Maxwell Edmonds Longus, Daphnis et Chloe
  • ... barked furiously and made at him as at a wolf, and before he could wholly rise from the lurk because of the sudden consternation, ...
  • * 2004 : Charles Reade, A Simpleton
  • At two PM a man had called on him, and had produced one of his advertisements, and had asked him if that was all square—no bobbies on the lurk .