skip of defined length in lyrics?

[Graham King]

I'm setting a verse anthem, in which certain voices are instrument-only
until the chorus, at which point they are doubled by singers.

How can I include a skip of defined duration in the lyrics?  \skip
counts notes or syllables, but I'd like to count breves and minims, to
avoid the lyrics-alignment containing a magic number that is sensitive
to subsequent editing of the preceding music.

I've seen a reference somewhere to #skip-of-length but can't find any
documentation.

% ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\version "2.25.7"

notes = { \repeat unfold 12 c'4 }

words = \lyricmode { 
  \repeat unfold 2 { \skip 1 }  % Lyrics to start at bar 3.
  one two three four 
}

{ << \new Voice = "cantor" \notes
     \new Lyrics \lyricsto cantor { \words } 
  >>
}
% ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grateful, as ever, for your insights.
-- Graham