The quality or state of being short; want of reach or extension; brevity; deficiency; as, the shortness of a journey; the shortness of the days in winter; the shortness of an essay; the shortness of the memory; a shortness of provisions; shortness of breath.

Not able to see far; nearsighted; myopic. See Myopic, and Myopia.

The player stationed in the field bewtween the second and third bases.

Any one of several species of small wrenlike Asiatic birds having short wings and a short tail. They belong to Brachypterix, Callene, and allied genera.

Lying near the shore.

A linguistic family or stock of North American Indians, comprising many tribes, which extends from Montana and Idaho into Mexico. In a restricted sense the name is applied especially to the Snakes, the most northern of the tribes.

To load with shot, as a gun.

A person tolerated only because he pays the shot, or reckoning, for the rest of the company, otherwise a mere clog on them.

Free from charge or expense; hence, unpunished; scot-free.

Impenetrable by shot.

A fish resembling the trout.

A light, smooth-bored gun, often double-barreled, especially designed for firing small shot at short range, and killing small game.

The refuse of cattle taken from a drove.

Loaded with shot.

Having ejected the spawn; as, a shotten herring.

See Shoo.

Used as an auxiliary verb, to express a conditional or contingent act or state, or as a supposition of an actual fact; also, to express moral obligation (see Shall); e. g.: they should have come last week; if I should go; I should think you could go.

To push with the shoulder; to make one's way, as through a crowd, by using the shoulders; to move swaying the shoulders from side to side.

Sprained in the shoulder, as a horse.

Having shoulders; -- used in composition; as, a broad-shouldered man.

A loud burst of voice or voices; a vehement and sudden outcry, especially of a multitudes expressing joy, triumph, exultation, or animated courage.

One who shouts.

p. p. of Shove.

The same as Shovelboard.

To take up and throw with a shovel; as, to shovel earth into a heap, or into a cart, or out of a pit.

Having a broad, flat nose; as, the shovel-nosed duck, or shoveler.

Shoveler.

The shoveler.

A board on which a game is played, by pushing or driving pieces of metal or money to reach certain marks; also, the game itself. Called also shuffleboard, shoveboard, shovegroat, shovelpenny.

One who, or that which, shovels.

As much as a shovel will hold; enough to fill a shovel.

A shark (Sphryna tiburio) allied to the hammerhead, and native of the warmer parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; -- called also bonnet shark.

The common sand shark. See under Snad. A small California shark (Heptranchias maculatus), which is taken for its oil. A Pacific Ocean shark (Hexanchus corinus). A ganoid fish of the Sturgeon family (Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus) of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; -- called also white sturgeon.

p. p. of Shove.

The act of showing, or bringing to view; exposure to sight; exhibition.

Bread of exhibition; loaves to set before God; -- the term used in translating the various phrases used in the Hebrew and Greek to designate the loaves of bread which the priest of the week placed before the Lord on the golden table in the sanctuary. They were made of fine flour unleavened, and were changed every Sabbath. The loaves, twelve in number, represented the twelve tribes of Israel. They were to be eaten by the priests only, and in the Holy Place.

To rain in showers; to fall, as in a hower or showers.

Full of showers.

Quality of being showery.

Rainless; freo from showers.

Raining in showers; abounding with frequent showers of rain.

In a showy manner; pompously; with parade.

The quality or state of being showy; pompousness; great parade; ostentation.

Appearance; display; exhibition.

Showy; ostentatious.

One who exhibits a show; a proprietor of a show.

p. p. of Show.

A room or apartment where a show is exhibited.

Making a show; attracting attention; presenting a marked appearance; ostentatious; gay; gaudy.

To trim, as trees; to lop.

One who lops; one who trims trees.

To cause to shrink or shrivel with cold; to benumb.

imp. of Shrink.

A place baited with chaff to entice birds.

Applied as an appellation to a kind of shell invented by Gen. H. Shrapnel of the British army. A shrapnel shell; shrapnel shells, collectively.

To cut or tear into small pieces, particularly narrow and long pieces, as of cloth or leather.

The fieldfare; -- so called from its harsh cry before rain.

The act of cutting or tearing into shreds.

Consisting of shreds.

Having no shreds; without a shred.

Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish.

having the qualities of a shrew; having a scolding disposition; froward; peevish.

A shrew; especially, the erd shrew.

A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.

One who utters a shriek.

Of or pertaining to a sheriff.

The office, or sphere of jurisdiction, of a sheriff; sheriffalty.

To shrive; to question.

The act of shriving.

A shriek; shrieking.

Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the family Laniidae, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius excubitor), the great northern shrike (Lanius borealis), and several others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns, and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under Butcher.

To utter or express in a shrill tone; to cause to make a shrill sound.

Having a throat which produces a shrill note.

Having a shrill voice.

The quality or state of being shrill.

Somewhat shrill.

Any one of numerous species of macruran Crustacea belonging to Crangon and various allied genera, having a slender body and long legs. Many of them are used as food. The larger kinds are called also prawns. See Illust. of Decapoda. In a more general sense, any species of the macruran tribe Caridea, or any species of the order Schizopoda, having a similar form. In a loose sense, any small crustacean, including some amphipods and even certain entomostracans; as, the fairy shrimp, and brine shrimp. See under Fairy, and Brine.

One who fishes for shrimps.

To enshrine; to place reverently, as in a shrine.

a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. See shrine{4}.

The act shrinking; shrinkage; contraction; also, recoil; withdrawal.

The act of shrinking; a contraction into less bulk or measurement.

One who shrinks; one who withdraws from danger.

a. n. from Shrink.

In a shrinking manner.

same as shrink-wrap, n..

a type of plastic film, usually transparent, that shrinks upon application of heat, and may be used to form a wrapping around objects that fits tightly and closely follows the contours of the wrapped object; -- also called shrink-pack, shrinkpack or shrink-wrapping.

Shrievalty.

To receive confessions, as a priest; to administer confession and absolution.

To cause to shrivel or contract; to cause to shrink onto corruptions.

p. p. of Shrive.

One who shrives; a confessor.

Shrift; confession.

A banker, or changer of money.

A money dealer's commission; also, more commonly, the examination of coins, and the separation of the good from the debased.

To trim; to lop.

An English breed of black-faced hornless sheep similar to the Southdown, but larger, now extensively raised in many parts of the world.

To lop. See Shrood.

Composed of four strands, and laid right-handed with a heart, or center; -- said of rope. See Illust. under Cordage.

Provided with a shroud or shrouds.

The shrouds. See Shroud, n., 7.

Without a shroud.

Affording shelter.

To join in the festivities of Shrovetide; hence, to make merry.

The days immediately preceding Ash Widnesday, especially the period between the evening before Quinguagesima Sunday and the morning of Ash Wednesday.

The festivity of Shrovetide.

A shrew.

See Shrood.

To lop; to prune.

A collection of shrubs.

Quality of being shrubby.

Full of shrubs.

having no shrubs.

Rubbish. Dross or refuse of metals. Light, dry wood, or stuff used for fuel.

To raise or draw up the shoulders, as in expressing doubt, indifference, dislike, dread, or the like.

A gesture consisting of drawing up the shoulders, -- a motion usually expressing doubt, indifference, or dislike; -- it is sometimes accompanied by a slight turning of the hands outward or upward. Such a gesture may be made, as in answering "who knows" to a question, suggesting utter ignorance of an answer and a disinclination to pursue the topic further.

To ignore; to disregard; to brush aside; to minimize{2} the effects of; as, to shrug off predictions of disaster.

p. p. a. from Shrink.

A village or small town; -- usually referring to Jewish towns in Eastern Europe.

A person's special talent, line of business, or habitual activity.