truant

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: tru=ant

CIDE DICTIONARY

truant, n. [F. truand, OF. truant, a vagrant, beggar; of Celtic origin; cf. W. 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.  [1913 Webster]
"I have a truant been to chivalry."  [1913 Webster]

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

truant, a. 

 Wandering from business or duty; loitering; idle, and shirking duty; as, a truant boy.  [1913 Webster]
"While truant Jove, in infant pride,
Played barefoot on Olympus' side."  [1913 Webster]

truant, v. i. [Cf. F. truander.].

 To idle away time; to loiter, or wander; to play the truant.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"By this means they lost their time and truanted on the fundamental grounds of saving knowledge."  [1913 Webster]

truant, v. t. 

 To idle away; to waste.  [1913 Webster]
"I dare not be the author
Of truanting the time."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

truant, n., adj., & v.
--n.
1 a child who stays away from school without leave or explanation.
2 a person missing from work etc.
--adj. (of a person, conduct, thoughts, etc.) shirking, idle, wandering.
--v.intr. (also play truant) stay away as a truant.

Derivative

truancy n.

Etymology

ME f. OF, prob. ult. f. Celt.: cf. Welsh truan, Gael. truaghan wretched

THESAURUS

truant

AWOL, Bowery bum, absent, absent without leave, absentee, beachcomber, beggar, beggarly fellow, blighter, budmash, bum, bummer, caitiff, clock watcher, delinquent, derelict, devil, dodger, drifter, drunkard, eye-servant, goldbrick, goldbricker, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, hobo, human wreck, idler, loafer, loafing, lowlife, malingerer, malingering, mauvais sujet, mean wretch, mucker, no-good, old soldier, pauvre diable, pilgarlic, poor creature, poor devil, runaway, sad case, sad sack, shirk, shirker, shirking, skid-row bum, skulk, skulker, slacker, soldier, stiff, sundowner, swagman, tax dodger, tramp, vag, vagabond, vagrant, vaurien, wastrel, welsher, worthless fellow, wretch

ROGET THESAURUS

truant

Avoidance

N avoidance, abstention, abstinence, for bearance, refraining, inaction, neutrality, avoidance, evasion, elusion, seclusion, avolation, flight, escape, retreat, recoil, departure, rejection, shirker, truant, fugitive, refugee, runaway, runagate, maroon, unsought, unattempted, avoiding, neutral, shy of, elusive, evasive, fugitive, runaway, shy, wild, Adj, lest, in order to avoid, Int, forbear!, keep off, hands off!, sauve qui peut!, every man for himself!, devil take the hindmost!, things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

Inactivity

N inactivity, inaction, inertness, obstinacy, lull, quiescence, rust, rustiness, idleness, remissness, sloth, indolence, indiligence, dawdling, ergophobia, otiosity, dullness, languor, segnity, segnitude, lentor, sluggishness, procrastination, torpor, torpidity, torpescence, stupor, somnolence, drowsiness, nodding, oscitation, oscitancy, pandiculation, hypnotism, lethargy, statuvolence heaviness, heavy eyelids, sleep, slumber, sound sleep, heavy sleep, balmy sleep, Morpheus, Somnus, coma, trance, ecstasis, dream, hibernation, nap, doze, snooze, siesta, wink of sleep, forty winks, snore, hypnology, dull work, pottering, relaxation, Castle of Indolence, lullaby, sedative, tranquilizer, hypnotic, sleeping pill, relaxant, anaesthetic, general anaesthetic, torpedo, idler, drone, droil, dawdle, mopus, do- little faineant, dummy, sleeping partner, afternoon farmer, truant, bummer, loafer, goldbrick, goldbicker, lounger, lazzarone, lubber, lubbard, slow coach (slow, ), opium eater, lotus eater, slug, lag, sluggard, slugabed, slumberer, dormouse, marmot, waiter on Providence, fruges consumere natus, inactive, motionless, unoccupied, unbusied, indolent, lazy, slothful, idle, lusk, remiss, slack, inert, torpid, sluggish, otiose, languid, supine, heavy, dull, leaden, lumpish, exanimate, soulless, listless, drony, dronish, lazy as Ludlam's dog, dilatory, laggard, lagging, slow, rusty, flagging, lackadaisical, maudlin, fiddle-faddle, pottering, shilly-shally, sleeping asleep, fast asleep, dead asleep, sound asleep, in a sound sleep, sound as a top, dormant, comatose, in the arms of Morpheus, in the lap of Morpheus, sleepy, sleepful, dozy, drowsy, somnolent, torpescent, lethargic, lethargical, somnifacient, statuvolent, statuvolic, heavy, heavy with sleep, napping, somnific, somniferous, soporous, soporific, soporiferous, hypnotic, balmy, dreamy, unawakened, unawakened, sedative, inactively, at leisure, the eyes begin to draw straws, bankrupt of life yet prodigal of ease, better 50 years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay, idly busy rolls their world away, the mystery of folded sleep, the timely dew of sleep, thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep, tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep.

Absence

N absence, inexistence, nonresidence, absenteeism, nonattendance, alibi, emptiness, void, vacuum, vacuity, vacancy, tabula rasa, exemption, hiatus, lipotype, truant, absentee, nobody, nobody present, nobody on earth, not a soul, ame qui vive, absent, not present, away, nonresident, gone, from home, missing, lost, wanting, omitted, nowhere to be found, inexistence, empty, void, vacant, vacuous, untenanted, unoccupied, uninhabited, tenantless, barren, sterile, desert, deserted, devoid, uninhabitable, without, minus, nowhere, elsewhere, neither here nor there, in default of, sans, behind one's back, the bird has flown, non est inventus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, absent in body but present in spirit, absento nemo ne nocuisse velit, Achilles absent was Achilles still, aux absents les os, briller par son absence, conspicuous by his absence, in the hope to meet shortly again and make our abs.

Knave

N knave, rogue, Scapin, rascal, Lazarillo de Tormes, bad man, blackguard, barrater, barrator, shyster, traitor, betrayer, archtraitor, conspirator, Judas, Catiline, reptile, serpent, snake in the grass, wolf in sheep's clothing, sneak, Jerry Sneak, squealer, tell-tale, mischief-maker, trimmer, fence-sitter, renegade, truant, recreant, sycophant.