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skivvy

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L327887 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈskɪvi/

noun

  1. A female domestic servant, especially one employed for menial work.

    “And then Somerset looked at the boys′ skivvy, and saw a well set up young woman with a red round face, an angry face just then but underneath the anger a pleasant one.”

    “2002, Krzysztof Miklaszewski, George M. Hyde (translator, editor), Encounters with Tadeusz Kantor, page 143, The common skivvy from the mortuary clings immoveably to the priest′s bed, which is just as immoveably guarded by the grandmother, who drives her off with a chamberpot. The skivvy is the photographer′s widow, trying to take a picture.”

  2. A prostitute.
  3. A close-fitting, long-sleeved T-shirt with a rolled collar.

    “Then dark blood squirts from a little hole in Sergeant Gerheim's chest. The red blood blossoms into his white skivvy shirt like a beautiful flower.”

    “I put my wetsuit and skivvy on a tree to dry, and laid out my other gear on some grass.”

verb

  1. To perform menial work; to do chores, like a servant.

    “We went out by turns, or sent out the apprentices who skivvied for us, to fetch in roast pork […]”

    “‘My mother was right. “It’ll take the war for the buggers to realize how important we are,” she used to say, “but as soon as Hitler hangs his clogs up we’ll be back skivvying and scurrying like there’s nothing in our heads.”’”