Definition of "Bunburying"

Bunburying

noun
uncountable
1. (humorous) Avoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person.
  Quotations
  Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. I want to tell you the rules.
  1895, Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest […] , [Act I]
  This financial "Bunburying" solves the problem of how to let banking organizations make high yield investments in order to improve overall earnings without risking the kind of public opposition, and loss of public confidence in banks, that took place in the 1930s [...]
  1991, Helen A. Garten, Why Bank Regulation Failed: Designing a Bank Regulatory Strategy for the 1990s
  Alison frequently went Bunburying in London although she called it Networking. As far as Nick could make out it consisted of having long, boozy lunches with other businesswomen.
  1994, Susan B. Kelly, Time of Hope
  James and Louise Forsyth owned a country house "older than Shakespeare's" in Haywards Heath, Sussex; there Owen spent three days stroking the pet sheep and admiring the view, Bunburying at its best.
  1995, James Hatch, Sorrow Is the Only Faithful One