Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a ‘lazybones’, a shirker.

1841		Sun. Flash 26 Sept. 2/5: Mlle. Romanini has been showing her agility to a small sprinkling of skivers in the pit.
1853		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 1 Oct. n.p.: Look out, Brumbley, we know you are boss skiver, but you are getting careless.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 87: Any idle skiver I catch will find himself with such a load o’ jankers he won’t know where he is.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 102: You can break you mother’s ’eart, you skiver, but you can’t break ’is.
1963		C. Wood ‘Spare’ in Cockade (1965) I ii: And he’s a skiver.
1977		G.F. Newman A Prisoner’s Tale 149: ‘What you skivers up to?’ he asked suspiciously.
1982		P. Bailey An Eng. Madam 127: If Madam is more than usually displeased with Slave Philip’s work, she ties the unfortunate skiver to a leg of the kitchen table.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 200: The social-benefit skivers, demoralised and feckless.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Skiver (n): someone who avoids work.