sharp 
3. Exactly; to the moment; not a minute later. 
[Colloq.] 
Captain Osborne . . . will bring him to the 150th mess 
at five o'clock sharp. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvii. 
4. In music, above the true pitch: as, to sing 
sharp To brace sharp. See brace'. To look sharp. 
See (ooil. 
sharp-cedar (sharp'se'dar), . A tree, .limi- 
pems Oxycedrus, of the Mediterranean region ; 
also, a tree, Acacia Oxycedrus, of Australia. 
sharp-cut (sharp'kut), a. Cut sharply and 
clearly; cut so as to present, a clear, well-de- 
fined outline, as a figure on a medal or an en- 
graving; hence, presenting great distinctness ; 
well -defined; clear. 
sharpen (shar'pn), v. [< ME. sliarpenen ; < 
nharp + -en 1 .] I. traits. 1. To make sharp or 
sharper; render more acute, keen, eager, ac- 
tive, intensive, quick, biting, severe, tart, etc. : 
as, to sharpen a sword or a knife; to sharpen 
the appetite ; to sharpen vinegar. 
To scharpen her wittes. 
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 778. 
Good Archers, sharpning their Arrowes with fish bones 
and stones. Pmchas, Pilgrimage, p. 431. 
Iron gharprneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the counte- 
nance of bis friend. Prov. xxvii. 17. 
All this served only to sharpen the aversion of the no- 
bles. Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 17. 
2. In music, same as sharp, v., 2. 
II. intrans. 1. To make something sharp; 
put a keen edge or sharp point on some- 
thing. 
Cres. I prithee, Diomed, visit me no more. 
Ther. Now she sharpens; well said, whetstone ! 
Shall., T. and C., v. 2. 75. 
2. To grow or become sharp. 
Driven In by Autumn's sharpening air 
From half-stripped woods and pastures bare, 
Brisk Robin seeks a kindlier home. 
Wordsworth, The Eedbreast. 
3. In music, same as sharp. 
sharpener (sharp'ner), n. One who or that 
which sharpens. 
Sharper (shar'per), . [< sharp + -eri.] 1. 
A man shrewd in making bargains; a tricky 
fellow ; a rascal ; a cheat in bargaining or gam- 
ing. 
Sharpers, as pikes, prey upon their own kind. 
Sir J{. L'Estrange. 
A Sharper that with Box and Dice 
Draws in young Deities to Vice. 
Prior, Cupid and Ganymede. 
2. A sharpener ; an instrument or tool used for 
sharpening. 
Engine lathes, hand lathes, upright drills, milling-ma- 
chines, sharpers, etc. Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XV. vii. 10. 
3. A long, thin oyster. [Florida to Texas.] 
Sharp-eyed (sharped), a. Sharp-sighted. 
To sharp-eyed reason this would seem untrue. 
Dryden. 
Sharpey's fibers. See fiberi. 
sharp-fin (sharp'fin), . An acanthopterygian 
fish. U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixviii. (1886), p. 586. 
sharp-ground (sharp'ground), a. Ground upon 
a wheel till sharp ; sharpened. 
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, 
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, 
But " banished " to kill me t Shale., E. and J., iii. 3. 44. 
sharp-headed (sharp'hed"ed), a. Having a 
sharp head Sharp-headed ftnner. Seejinneri. 
sharpie (shar'pi). . Same as sharpy. 
sharpling, sharplin (sharp'ling, -lin), . [= G. 
scharfling, the stickleback; as sharp + -ling 1 .] 
The stickleback, a fish of which there are sev- 
eral species. Also jack-sharpling. See stickle- 
back and Gasterosteus. [Prov. Eng.] 
Th 1 hidden loue that now-adaies doth holde 
The Steel and Load-stone, Hydrargire and Golde, 
Th 1 Amber and straw ; that lodgeth in one shell 
Pearl-fish and sharpling. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas'a Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
sharp-looking (sharp 'luting), a. Having the 
appearance of sharpness; hungry-looking; ema- 
ciated ; lean. 
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch. 
Shalt., C. of E., v. 1. 240. 
sharply (sharp'li), adv. [< ME. scharply, sharpe- 
ly, scharpliche (= G. scharflich) ; < sharp + -fy2.] 
In a sharp or keen manner, in any sense of the 
word sharp. 
sharpnails (sharp'nals), . The stickleback, 
or sharpling: more fully jack-sharpnails. 
sharpness (sharp'ues), n. [< ME. scharpnes, 
scharpnesse ; < sharp + -ness.] The state or 
character of being sharp, in any sense of that 
word. 
5554 
And the best quarrels in the heat are cursed 
By those that feel their sharpness. 
Shalt., Lear, v. 3. 57. 
That the Tree had power to giue sharpnesse of wit. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 24. 
God sent him sharpness and sad accidents to ensober his 
spirits. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 834. 
Hans Reinier Oothout, an old navigator famous for the 
sharpness of his vision, who could see land when it was 
quite out of sight to ordinary mortals. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 143. 
sharp-nosed ( sharp 'nozd), a. 1. Having a 
sharp, pointed, or peaked nose : specifically said 
of the common eel, Anguilla vulgaris, also called 
A. oxyrhyncha. See cut under Anguilla. 2. 
Keen of scent; .having a good nose or faculty 
of smell, asadog Sharp-nosed shark. SeeAor*i. 
sharp-saw (sharp'sa), . Same as saw-sharp- 
ener. [Local, Eng.] 
sharp-set (sharp'set), a. Having a sharp ap- 
petite. 
What was still more unfortunate, the fare which they 
were content to live upon themselves was so new to us, 
that we could not eat it, sharp set as we were. 
B. Ball, Travels in North America, II. 178. 
sharp-shinned (sharp'shind), a. Having slen- 
der shanks: specifically noting a hawk, Acci- 
piter fuscus, one of the two commonest of the 
small hawks of North America. The adults are 
dark-plumbons or slate-gray above, barred transversely 
Sharp-shinned Hawk (AtcipittrfuscMS) \ adult female. 
below with rufous on a white ground, and marked length- 
wise with blackish shaft-lines. The tail is crossed with 
four blackish bars and tipped with whitish ; the primaries 
are also barred or indented. The male is 10 or 12 inches 
long, and 21 in extent of wings ; the female, 12 or 14 inches 
long, and 251 in extent. 
sharp-shod (sharp'shod), a. Having shoes with 
calks or sharp spikes for safety in moving over 
ice: correlated with rough-shod, smooth-shod. 
sharp-shooter (sharp' sh6 'ter), n. 1. One 
skilled in shooting with firearms, especially with 
the rifle; specifically, in military use, a skir- 
misher, or the occupant of a rifle-pit, posted to 
cut off outlying parties of the enemy, artiller- 
ists, or the like, or to prevent approach by the 
enemy to a ford or other object of importance. 
2. A swift, clipper-built schooner. [Massa- 
chusetts.] 
sharp-shooting (sharp'sho'ting), n. The act 
of shooting accurately and with precise aim; 
practice or service as a sharp-shooter. See 
sharp-shooter. 
sharp-sighted (sharp'si'ted), a. 1. Hav- 
ing quick or acute sight: as, a sharp-sighted 
eagle or hawk. 2. Having or proceeding from 
quick discernment or acute understanding: as, 
a sharp-sighted opponent; sharp-sighted judg- 
ment. 
An healthy, perfect, and sharp-sighted mind. 
Sir J. Dames, Immortal, of Soul, iii. 
Sharp's rifle. See rifle'*. 
sharptail (sharp'tal), n. 1. The sharp-tailed 
grouse. See Pedwecetes. 2. One of the many 
synallaxine birds of South America. See Sy- 
nallaxiwe. 3. The pintail duck, Dafila acuta. 
[Local, U. S.] 
sharp-tailed (sharp'tald), a. In ornith.: (a) 
Having a sharp-pointed tail: as, the sharp- 
tailed grouse, Pedicecetes phasianellus or colitm- 
bidiius, the common prairie-hen of northwest- 
ern parts of America. See cut under Pedice- 
cetes. (b) Haying acute or acuminate tail- 
feathers: specifically said of a finch, Ammo- 
dromits caudaeutus, a small sparrow of the 
marshes of eastern parts of the United States 
and Canada, and of a sandpiper, Actodnn<i 
acmninata, of Alaska and Asia. 
Sharp-visaged (sharp'viz'ajd), a. Having a 
sharp or thin face. 
= Syn. 
n. i 
shaul 
The Welch that inhabit the mountains are commonly 
sharp-visayed. Sir M. Hale, Grig, of Mankind. 
sharp-witted (shiirp'wit'ed), a. Having an 
acute mind. 
The sharpest tritted lover in Arcadia. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia. 
Yet ... I have known a number of dull-sighted, very 
sharp-irilted men. Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiae, p. 82. 
sharpy (shar'pi), i. ; pi. sharpies (-piz). [Also 
sharpie; < sharp + dim. -# 2 .] Same as shurji. 
n., 11. 
sharrag (shar'ag), . Same as nhcarliog. 
shasht, . An obsolete form of sash 2 . 
shaster, Shastra (shas'ter, -trji), n. [Also sas- 
tra ; < Skt. gastra, < / g as, govern, teach.] A 
text-book or book of laws among the Hindus: 
applied particularly to a book containing the 
authorized institutes of their religion, and con- 
sidered of divine origin. The term is applied, in a 
wider sense, to treatises containing the laws or institutes 
of the various arts and sciences, as rhetoric. 
shathmontt, Same as jktflmemA. 
shatter (shat'er), v. [< ME. schateren, scatter, 
dash (of falling water) ; an assibilated form of 
scatter: see scatter. ] I. trans. If. To scatter; 
disperse. 
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, 
And with forced fingers rude 
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 5. 
2. To break or rend in pieces, as by a single 
blow ; rend, split, or rive into splinters, flinders, 
or fragments. 
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound, 
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk. 
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 95. 
Here shattered walls, like broken rocks, from far 
Rise up in hideous views, the guilt of war. 
Addison, The Campaign. 
3. To break; disorder; derange; impair; de- 
stroy: as, shattered nerves ; a constitution shat- 
tered by dissipation. 
No consideration in the World doth so break in pieces 
and confound and shatter the Spirit of a Han, like the ap- 
prehension of God's wrath and displeasure against him 
for his sins. StUlingfeet, Sermons, II. ix. 
I was shattered by a night of conscious delirium. 
Oeorye Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vii. 3. 
1. Smash, etc. See dash, 
intrans. To scatter; fly apart; be broken 
or rent into fragments. 
Some [fragile bodies] shatter and fly in many pieces. 
Bacon, Nat Hist., 8 841. 
In welt'ring waves my ship is tost, 
My shattering sails away be shorn. 
Sonnet (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 460). 
Shatter (shat'er), . [< shatter, .] 1. One 
part of many into which anything is broken ; a 
fragment: used chiefly in the plural, and in the 
phrase to break or rend into shatters. 
You may likewise stick the candle so loose that it will 
fall upon the glass of the sconce, and break it into shatters. 
Swift, Advice to Servants (Butler). 
2. A shattered or impaired state. 
If the nerves are to be continually hi a shatter with want 
of sleep. Carlyle, The Century, XXIV. 23. 
shatterbrain (shat'er-bran), . A careless, 
giddy person ; a scatterbrain. Imp. Diet. 
shatter-brained (shat'er-brand), a. Disorder- 
ed in intellect; intellectually weak; scatter- 
brained. 
You cannot . . . but conclude that religion and devo- 
tion are far from being the mere effects of ignorance and 
imposture, whatever some shatter-brained and debauched 
persons would fain persuade themselves and others. 
Dr. J. Goodman, Winter Evening Conferences, iii. 
shatter-pated (shat'er-pa"ted), a. Same as 
sha tter-brained. 
shattery (shat'er-i), n. [< shatter + -y^ .] Brit- 
tle ; that breaks and flies into many pieces ; not 
compact; loose of texture. 
A coarse gritstone, ... of too shattery a nature to be 
used except in ordinary buildings. 
Pennant, Journey from Chester, p. 272. 
shauchle 1 , shaughle 1 (shach'l), v. i.; pret. 
and pp. shaiichled, sliaughled, ppr. shauchling, 
shatighling. [Sc., also schachle, shochel; cf. 
shaffle.] To walk with a shuffling gait, as one 
lame or deformed. [Scotch.] 
Shauchle 2 , shaughle 2 (shach'l), r. t. ; pret. 
and pp. shaucliled, shaughled, ppr. ghaiichling, 
shaughling. [Sc., also schachle (and shach); 
prob. in part < shauchle^, v., but perhaps in part 
associated with Icel. skelgja-sl; come askew, < 
skjdlgr, wry, oblique, squinting, sloping: see 
shallow 1 , s/ioa/ 1 .] To distort; deform; render 
shapeless or slipshod. [Scotch.] 
And how her new shoon fit her auld shachl't feet. 
Burns, Last May a Braw Wooer. 
shaul (shal), . and n. A Scotch form of shoal 1 . 
