1. To hide or to move secretly or without being noticed; especially, when someone is planning to do something bad: Jane saw a man skulking around outside her house in the dark; so, she called the police.
2. To hide because of cowardice or a bad conscience: Isaac said that he would skulk in a corner and feel very sorry for himself if he were to encounter any kind of disaster.
3. Etymology: from Middle English of Scandinavian origin. In Norwegian skulka, "lurk" ("to sneak" "to exist unobserved") and Danish skulke, Swedish skoika, "to shirk" ("to avoid").

Pertaining to movements that are done in a quiet or secret way: The skulking cat was about to pounce on the mouse that had found its way into Kay's apartment.