mitch
/mɪtʃ
/verb [no object] informal, chiefly Irish
Play truant from school: we’re looking for three young fellows who’ve mitched from school [with object]: he would mitch school and go down to the docks...
- Playing truant from school is mitching in Ulster; twagging in East Yorkshire; slamming in Bradford; jigging in York; skidging in Paisley in Scotland; and skiving almost everywhere.
- ‘There was a little bit of punishment enforced because they were more interested in the fact that I had been mitching from school.’
- It is the young Thomas, mitching off school to play in the park or write poetry at home, that the Welsh prefer to remember.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the obsolete sense 'pilfer'): apparently from Old French muchier 'hide, lurk'; compare with mooch.