Truant

Truant , noun

[French truand, Old French truant, a vagrant, beggar; of Celtic origin; compare Welsh tru, truan, wretched, miserable, truan a wretch, Ir. trogha miserable, Gael. truaghan a poor, distressed, or wretched creature, truagh wretched.]

One who stays away from business or any duty; especially, one who stays out of school without leave; an idler; a loiterer; a shirk. — Dryden

I have a truant been to chivalry. — Shakespeare

Collocations (1)

To play truant , to stray away; to loiter; especially, to stay out of school without leave. — Sir T. Browne

Truant , adjective

Wandering from business or duty; loitering; idle, and shirking duty; as, a truant boy.

While truant Jove, in infant pride, Played barefoot on Olympus' side. — Trumbull

Truant , intransitive verb

[Compare French truander.]

To idle away time; to loiter, or wander; to play the truant. — Shakespeare

By this means they lost their time and truanted on the fundamental grounds of saving knowledge. — Lowell

Truant , transitive verb

To idle away; to waste. [Rare]

I dare not be the author Of truanting the time. — Ford