shank-spring 
shank-spring (shangk'spring), . A small piece 
of elastic steel used to join the sole and heel of 
a boot or shoe so as to give an elastic support 
to the instep. 
shank-wheel (shangk'hwel), . In shoemaking, 
a tool for giving an ornamental finish to a 
shank. 
shanna (shan'a). A Scotch form of shall not. 
shanny 1 (shan'i), n.; pi. shannies (-iz). [Also 
shan, shaning ; origin uncertain.] The smooth 
blenny, Blennius (or Pholis) leevis, a fish of an 
oblong form with a smooth skin, and without 
filaments or appendages to the head. It is found 
along the coasts of England and of Europe generally, chiefly 
lurking under stones and in seaweed between tide-marks. 
By means of its pectoral fins it is able to crawl upon land, 
and when the tide ebbs will often creep on the shore un- 
til it finds a crevice wherein it can hide until the tide re- 
turns. 
shanny 2 (shan'i), a. [Origin obscure; cf. 
shand.] Giddy; foolish. [Prov. Eng.] 
Shanscritt, n. A former spelling of Sanskrit. 
sha'n't (shant). A contraction of shall not. 
[Colloq.] 
shanty 1 (shan'ti), a. [Also shawnty, shunty; 
var. of janty, jaunty, q. v.] Jaunty; gay; 
showy. [Prov. Eng.] 
shanty 2 (shan'ti), n. ; pi. shanties (-tiz). [For- 
merly also shaiitee ; origin obscure. It has been 
variously guessed to be (a) of Ir. origin, < IT. 
sean, old (or sion, weather, storm), + tig, a 
house; (b) < F. chantier, a yard, timber-yard, 
< L. canterins, cantherius, a rafter: see cant 1 -, 
cantle; (c) < a supposed F. *chiente, as if lit. 
'dog-kennel,' < chien, a dog: see kennel 1 .] 1. 
A hut or mean dwelling; a temporary build- 
ing of rough and flimsy character. Compare 
boisfi. 
This was the second season that le Bourdon had occu- 
pied "Castle Meal," as he himself called the shanty. 
Cooper, Oak Openings, p. 26. 
The diamond town of Kimberley is still a huge aggrega- 
tion of shanties traversed by tramways and lit by electric 
light. Sir C. W. Dilke, Probs. of Greater Britain, iii. 1. 
2. A public house, or place where liquor is sold. 
[Slang.] giy grog-shanty, a place where liquor is 
sold without a license. [Slang, Australia.] 
shanty 2 (shan'ti), v. i.; pret. and pp. shantied, 
ppr. shantying. [< shanty?, n."] To live in a 
shanty, as lumbermen do: common in Mani- 
toba and the lumber regions of North America. 
shanty 3 (shan'ti), n. [Also chantey; prob. < F. 
chanter, sing: see chant."] A song with a bois- 
terous chorus, sung by sailors while heaving at 
the capstan or windlass or hoisting up heavy 
weights, to enable them to pull or heave to- 
gether in time with the song. 
Shanty-man 1 (shan'ti-man), n. [< shanty? + 
man.] One who lives iii a shanty; hence, a 
backwoodsman ; a lumberer. 
shanty-man 2 (shan'ti-man), n. [Also chantey- 
man; < shanty 3 + man.']' The sailor on board 
ship who leads the shanty to which the sailors 
work in heaving at the capstan, hoisting sail, 
etc. 
The shanty-man the chorister of the old packet-ship 
hasleft no successors. . . . It was in the windlass-songs 
that the accomplished shanty-man displayed his fullest 
powers and his daintiest graces. 
Harper's Mag., LXV. 281, 283. 
shapable (sha'pa-bl), a. [< shape + -able.'} 
1. Capable of being shaped. 
My task is to sit and study how shapeable the Indepen- 
dent way will be to the body of England. 
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 38. 
Soft and shapeable into love's syllables. Ruskin. 
2+. Having a proper shape or form; shapely. 
I made [earthenware] things round and shapeable which 
before were filthy things indeed to look on. 
De Foe, Robinson Crusoe, x. 
Also shapeable. 
shape (shap), v.; pret. and pp. shaped (pp. for- 
merly shapen), ppr. shaping, [(a) < ME. sha- 
pen, schapen (pret. shoop, shop, schop, schope, 
scop, pp. shapen, schapen, shape, yshapen, 
yschape), < AS. sceapan, scapan (pret. scop, 
sceop, pp. sceapen, scapen), form, make, shape, 
= OS. scapan = OFries. skeppa, scheppa (pret. 
skop, schop) = MD. schappen, do, treat, = OHG. 
scaffan, MHG. G. schaffen, shape, create, pro- 
duce, = Icel. skapa = Sw. skapa = Dan. skabe 
= Goth. *skapjan, ga-skapjan (pret. ga-skop), 
create, form, shape ; also in secondary forms, 
partly merged with the preceding, namely (6) 
ME. shapen, schapen, schapien, schepien (pret. 
de, pp. shaped), < AS. sceppan, 
scyppan, scippan = OS. sceppian = OHG. scep- 
fen, skeffen, create, form; (c) OHG. scaffon, 
MHG. G. schaffen, procure, obtain, furnish, be 
busy about, > MD. D. schaffen = Dan. skaffe = 
5550 
Sw. skaffa, procure, furnish ; < Teut. / skap, 
supposed by some to have meant orig. 'cut 
(wood) into shape,' and to be connected with 
AS. scafan, etc., shave: see shave. Hence ult. 
shaft 3 and -ship.] I. trans. 1. Toform; make; 
create; construct. 
Swithe go shape a shippe of shides and of hordes. 
Piers Plowman (B), ix. 131. 
O blake Nyght ! as folk in bokes rede, 
That shapen art by God this world to hyde 
At certein tymes with thy derke wede, 
That under that men myghte in reste abyde. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1480. 
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mo- 
ther conceive me. Ps. H. 5. 
2. To give shape or form to ; cut, mold, or make 
into a particular form: as, to shape a garment; 
to shape a vessel on the potters' wheel. 
To the forge with it then ; shape it. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 239. 
But that same weed ye've shaped for me, 
It quickly shall be sewed for thee. 
John Thomson and the Turk (Child's Ballads, III. 866). 
A Ribbon bound and shap'd her slender WaUt. 
Prior, Colin's Mistakes, viii. 
Only those items which I notice shape my mind. 
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 402. 
Wordsworth was wholly void of that shaping imagina- 
tion which is the highest criterion of a poet. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 116. 
3. To adapt, as to a purpose ; cause to conform ; 
adjust; regulate: with to or unto. 
Good sir, shape yourself 
To understand the place and noble persons 
You live with now. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1. 
Charm 'd by their Eyes, their Manners I acquire. 
And shape my Foolishness to their Desire. 
Prior, Solomon, ii. 
So, as I grew, I rudely shaped my life 
To my immediate wants. Browning, Pauline. 
4. To form with the mind ; plan ; contrive ; de- 
vise; arrange; prepare. 
At which the God of Love gan loken rowe, 
Right for despit, and shop to ben ywroken. 
Chaucer, Troilus, 1 207. 
You may shape, Amintor, 
Causes to cozen the whole world withal, 
And yourself too. 
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iii. 2. 
I see the bottom of your question ; and, with these gen- 
tlemen's good leave, I will endeavour to shape you an an- 
swer. Bv.ni/an. Pilgrim's Progress, p. 166. 
5f. To get ready; address (one's self to do 
something). 
Upon the chaungynge of the moone, 
Whan lightlees is the world a nyght or tweyne, 
And that the welkin shap hym for to reyne, 
He streight o morwe unto his nece wente. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 551. 
"j[e, certes," quath he, "that is soth," and shop hym to 
walke. Piers Plowman (C), xiv. 247. 
6. To direct (one's course) ; betake (one's 
self) : as, to shape one's course homeward. 
He will aray hym full rad with a route noble, 
And shape hym to our shippes with his shene knightes. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 1144. 
Now to shores more soft 
She [the Muse] shapes her prosperous sail. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, vii. 5. 
Behold, in awful march and dread array 
The long-expected squadrons shape their way ! 
Addison, The Campaign. 
7. To image ; conceive ; call or conjure up. 
Oft my jealousy 
Shapes faults that are not. 
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 148. 
Guilt shapes the Terror ; deep within 
The human heart the secret lies 
Of all the hideous deities. 
Whittier, The Over-Heart, 
8f. To dress ; array. 
Assemble you soudiours, sure men & nobill, 
Shapyn in shene ger, with shippis to wynde, 
The Grekys to greue, & in grem brynge. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 2572. 
I wol erly shape me therfore. 
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 809. 
9. To destine ; foreordain ; predestine. 
If so be my destine be shape 
By eterne word to deyen in prisoun, 
Of oure lynage have sum compassioun. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, L 260. 
To Shape up, to give form to by stiff or solid material, 
so that the shape will be retained : said of articles covered 
with needlework or of textile fabrics. 
H. intrans. 1. To take shape or form; be or 
become adapted, fit, orcomformable. [Rare.] 
Their dear loss, 
The more of you 'twas felt, the more it shaped 
Unto my end of stealing them. 
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 346. 
2f. To turn out ; happen. 
So shop it that hym fll that daye a tene 
In love, for whiche in wo to bedde he wente. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 61. 
shapeless 
shape (shap), n. [< ME. shape, schape, shap, 
schap, schappe, scheap, shape, way, < AS. ge- 
sceap, a creature, creation, fate, destiny, form, 
figure, shape, pi. gesceapu, the genitals, = MD. 
schap = OHG. scaf, form, MHG. geschaf, a crea- 
ture, = Icel. skap, state, condition, temper, 
mood; from the verb. Cf. shaft 3 ."] 1. Form; 
figure ; outward contour, aspect, or appear- 
ance ; hence, guise : as, the two things are dis- 
similar in shape ; the shape of the head ; in 
man's shape. 
First a charming shape enslaved me, 
An eye then gave the fatal stroke ; 
Till by her wit Corinna saved me, 
And all my former fetters broke. Addison. 
Tulip-beds of different shape and dyes, 
Bending beneath the invisible Wst-wind's sighs. 
Moore, Lalla Rookh, Veiled Prophet. 
The martyrdom which in an infinite variety of shapes 
awaits those who have the heart, and will, and conscience 
to fight a battle with the world. 
Haicthorne, Seven Gables, vii. 
When we say that a body can be moved about without 
altering its shape, we mean that it can be so moved as to 
keep unaltered all the angles in it. 
W. K. Clifford, Lectures, 1. 312. 
2. That which has form or figure ; a mere form, 
image, or figure ; an appearance ; a phantasm. 
Tis strange he will not let me sleep, but dives 
Into my fancy, and there gives me shapes 
That kneel aud do me service, cry me king. 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, L 1. 
The other shape, 
If shape it might be called that shape had none 
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb. 
Milton, P. L., ii. 666. 
He hears quick footsteps a shape flits by. 
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i. 
3. Concrete embodiment or form, as of a 
thought, conception, or quality. 
I am so busy with this frivolous project, and can bring 
it to no shape, that it almost confounds my capacity. 
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, iii. 2. 
Yet the smooth words took no shape in action. 
F roude, Hist Eng. (ed. 1804), II. 128. 
4. Appearance; guise; dress; disguise; specifi- 
cally, a theatrical costume (a complete dress). 
Why, quod the somonnour, ride ye than or goon 
In sondry shape, and nat alway in oon ? 
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 172. 
Now for her a shape, 
And we may dress her, and I'll help to fit her 
With a tuft-taffata cloke. B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 1. 
Einaston, the boy, had the good turn to appear in three 
shapes : first as a poor woman in ordinary clothes to please 
Morose ; then in fine clothes, as a gallant, and in them 
was clearly the prettiest woman in the whole house ; and 
lastly, as a man. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 7, 1661. 
A scarlet cloth shape (for Richard). 
Sale Catalogue of Covent Garden Theatre, Sept., 1829, p. 33. 
5. Way; manner. 
But schortly for to telle the schap of this tale, 
the duk hade the doujtiere men to deme the sothe. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), L 1160. 
But are ye in any shape bound to this birkie Pepper- 
cull 1 Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xxxv. 
6. In industrial art: (a) A pattern to be followed 
by workmen ; especially, a flat pattern to guide 
a cutter. (6) Something intended to serve as 
a framework for a light covering, as a bonnet- 
frame. 7. In cookery, a dessert dish consist- 
ing of blanc-mange, rice, corn-starch, jelly, or 
the like cast in a mold, allowed to stand till it 
sets or firms, and then turned out for serving. 
8. The private parts, especially of a female. 
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.] TO lick into shape. 
See lick. To take shape, to assume a definite form, 
order, or pian. = Syn. 1. Form, Fashion, etc. (see figure), 
outline, mold, cut, build, cast 
shapet. An obsolete form of the past partici- 
ple of shape. 
shapeable, a. 
See shapable. 
shaped (shapt), 
p. a. Having 
a varied orna- 
mental form : 
noting an ob- 
ject such as is 
usually of sim- 
ple form, as a 
tray or a panel 
of a piece of fur- 
niture, which, 
instead of be- 
ing rectangu- 
lar, round, or 
oval, is broken 
up into various 
curves. 
A Shaped Mirror, I8th century. 
shapeless (shap'les), a. [< ME. schaples, schape- 
; < shape, n., + -less.'] 1. Destitute of regu- 
