1. avoids work or responsibility, especially by staying away without permission
Usage: British informal
2. cuts or shaves thin layers from leather or other material
Usage: technical

1. plural of skive; thin layers cut from material or instances of avoiding work

Examples

• He always skives off when there’s hard work to be done.
• She skives school every Friday afternoon.
• The worker skives leather to make it thinner for bookbinding.
• The craftsman carefully skives the edges of the material.
• His constant skives from meetings annoyed his colleagues.
• The leather skives were collected for recycling.