Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The excitement seemed to have given fresh zest to the wine, and those who had been shirking, or filling on heel-taps, now began filling bumpers, while those who always filled bumpers now took back hands.

From Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by Surtees, Robert Smith

If she wanted happiness, she must fight for it, and for all these months she had been shirking the fight.

From The Adventures of Sally by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

You sweated away, and improved your fielding twenty per cent.; and I happened to be talking to Firby-Smith and found that young Mike had been shirking his, so out he went. 

From Mike by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

I feel very lonely here, and besides I feel the longing to look once more into Aniela's eyes, and at times feel guilty, as if I had been shirking a duty by running away.

From Without Dogma by Sienkiewicz, Henryk

To be told he had been shirking his duty touched a very tender and sensitive spot of his.

From Bones Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country by Wallace, Edgar