Feign illness (8)
I believe the answer is:
malinger
'feign illness' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is the entire clue.
(Other definitions for malinger that I've seen before include "skive off school, maybe" , "shirk responsibilities" , "To shirk work" , "Avoid duty by pretending sickness" , "Skive by pretending to be ill" .)