pull a sickie

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪki

Verb

pull a sickie (third-person singular simple present pulls a sickie, present participle pulling a sickie, simple past and past participle pulled a sickie)

1. (slang, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To skip work or school or avoid an obligation by pretending to be sick.
   • 2015 November 7, Lucy White, “The most acceptable reasons to take a sick day revealed”, in The Independent‎^[1]:

     But not all excuses for pulling a sickie are equal, it seems.

   • 2016 June 16, James Andrews, Julia Rampen, “Can you be sacked for watching England-Wales at work? These are your rights”, in Daily Mirror‎^[2]:

     We decided to check exactly what your boss can - and can't - do to employees who bunk off, tune in at work, slide off to the pub or pull a sickie.

Synonyms

• (claim a sick day): chuck a sickie, throw a sickie, see also Thesaurus:shirk

Translations

to feign illness so to take time off work

• Finnish: ilmoittautua sairaaksi, pinnata (töistä) (slang)
• French: se faire porter pâle (fr)
• German: krankfeiern
• Maori: whakangehengehe
• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see udawać chorego impf

See also

• call in sick