Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHA-GREEN, n.² [or v.]

for Chagrin. [See Chagrin.]

SHAH, n.

1. A Persian word signifying king. – Eton.
2. A chieftain.

SHAIK, or SCHEIK, n.

Among the Arabians and Moors, an old man, and hence a chief, a lord, a man of eminence. Encyc.

SHAIL, v.t.

To walk sidewise. [Low and not in use.] – L'Estrange. [This word is probably the G. schielen, Dan. skieler, to squint.]

SHAKE, n.

1. Concussion; a vacillating or wavering motion; a rapid motion one way and the other; agitation. The great soldier's honor was composed of thicker stuff which could endure a shake. – Herbert.
2. A trembling or shivering; agitation.
3. A motion of hands clasped. Our salutations were very hearty on both sides, consisting of many kind shakes of the hand. – Addison.
4. In music, a trill; a rapid reiteration of two notes comprehending an interval not greater than one whole tone, nor less than a semitone. – Busby.

SHAKE, v.i.

1. To be agitated with a waving or vibratory motion; as, a tree shakes with the wind; the house shakes in a tempest. The foundations of the earth do shake. – Is. xxiv.
2. To tremble; to shiver; to quake; as, a man shakes in an ague; or he shakes with cold, or with terror.
3. To totter. Under his burning wheels / The steadfast empyrean shook throughout, / All but the throne itself of God. – Milton.

SHAKE, v.t. [pret. shook; pp. shaken. Sax. sceacan, to shake, also to flee, to depart, to withdraw; Sw. skaka; D. schokken, to shake, to jolt, to heap; schok, a shock, jolt or bounce; W. ysgegiaw, to shake by seizing one by the throat; cegiaw, to choke, from cêg, a choking, the mouth, an entrance. If the Welsh gives the true origin of this word, it is remarkably expressive, and characteristic of rough manners. I am not confident that the Welsh and Saxon are from a common stock.]

1. To cause to move with quick vibrations; to move rapidly one way and the other; to agitate; as, the wind shakes a tree; an earthquake shakes the hills or the earth. I shook my lap, and said, so God shake out every man from his house. – Neh. v. He shook the sacred honors of his head. – Dryden. As a fig-tree casteth her untimely fruit, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. – Rev. vi.
2. To make to totter or tremble. The rapid wheels shake heaven's basis. – Milton.
3. To cause to shiver; as, an ague shakes the whole frame.
4. To throw down by a violent motion. Macbeth is ripe for shaking. – Shak. [But see Shake off, which is generally used.]
5. To throw away; to drive off. Tis our first intent / To shake cares and business from our age. – Shak. [See shake off.]
6. To move from firmness; to weaken the stability of; to endanger; to threaten to overthrow. Nothing should shake our belief in the being and perfections of God, and in our own accountableness.
7. To cause to waver or doubt; to impair the resolution of; to depress the courage of. That ye be not soon shaken in mind. – 2 Thess. ii.
8. To trill; as, to shake a note in music. To shake hands, sometimes, to unite with; to agree or contract with, more generally, to take leave of, from the practice of shaking hands at meeting and parting. – Shak. K. Charles. To shake off, to drive off; to throw off or down by violence; as, to shake off the dust of the feet; also, to rid one's self; to free from; to divest of; as, to shake off disease or grief; to shake off troublesome dependents. – Addison.

SHAK-EN, pp. [shak'n.]

1. Impelled with a vacillating motion; agitated.
2. adj. Cracked or split; as, shaken timber. Nor is the wood shaken nor twisted, as those about Capetown. – Barrow. [Our mechanics usually pronounce this shaky, forming word from shake, like pithy from pith.]

SHAK-ER, n.

1. A person or thing that shakes or agitates; as, the shaker of the earth. – Pope.
2. In the United States, Shakers, is the name given to a singular sect of Christians, so called from the agitations or movements in dancing which characterize their worship.

SHAK-ING, n.

1. The act of shaking or agitating; brandishing. – Job xli.
2. Concussion. – Harmar.
3. A trembling or shivering. – Waller.

SHAK-ING, ppr.

1. Impelling to a wavering motion; causing to vacillate or waver; agitating.
2. Trembling; shivering; quaking.

SHA'KY, a.

Cracked, as timber. – Chambers.

SHALE, n. [G. schale; a different orthography of shell, but not in use. See Shell.]

1. A shell or husk. – Shak.
2. In natural history, a species of shist or shistous clay; slate clay; generally of a bluish or yellowish gray color, more rarely of a dark blackish or reddish gray, or grayish black, or greenish color. Its fracture is slaty, and in water it molders into powder. It is often found in strata in coal and mines, and commonly bears vegetable impressions. It is generally the forerunner of coal. – Kirwan. Bituminous shale is a subvariety of argillaceous slate, is impregnated with bitumen, and burns with flame. – Cleaveland.

SHALE, v.t.

To peel. [Not in use.] See Shell.

SHALL, v.i. [verb auxiliary. pret. should. Sax. scealan, scylan, to be obliged. It coincides in signification nearly with ought, it is a duty, it is necessary; D. zal, zul; G. soll; Sw. skola, pret. skulle; Dan. skal, skulle, skulde. The German and Dutch have lost the palatal letter of the verb; but it appears in the derivative G. schuld, guilt, fault, culpability, debt; D. schuld, Sw. skuld, Dan. skyld, debt, fault, guilt; skylder, to owe; Sax. scyld, debt, offeuse, L. scelus. The literal sense is to hold or be held, hence to owe, and hence the sense of guilt, a being held, bound or liable to justice and punishment. In the Teutonic dialects, schulden, skyld, are used in the Lord's prayer, as “forgive us our debts,” but neither debt nor trespass expresses the exact idea, which includes sin or crime, and liability to punishment. The word seems to be allied in origin to skill, L. calleo, to be able, to know. See Skill. Shall is defective, having no infinitive, imperative or participle. It ought to be written shal, as the original has one l only, and it has one only in shalt and should.]

1. Shall is primarily in the present tense, and in our mother tongue was followed by a verb in the infinitive, like other verbs. “Ic sceal fram the beon gefullod,” I have need to be baptized of thee. Matth. iii. “Ic nu sceal singan sarcwidas,” I must now sing mournful songs. Boethius. We still use shall and should before another verb in the infinitive, without the sign to; but the signification of shall is considerably deflected from its primitive sense. It is now treated as a mere auxiliary to other verbs, serving to form some of the tenses. In the present tense, shall, before a verb in the infinitive, forms the future tense; but its force and effect are different with the different persons or personal pronouns. Thus in the first person, shall simply foretells or declares what will take place; as, I or we shall ride to town on Monday. This declaration simply informs another of a fact that is to take place. The sense of shall here is changed from an expression of need or duty, to that of previous statement or information, grounded on intention or resolution. When uttered with emphasis, “I shall go,” it expresses firm determination, but not a promise.
2. In the second and third persons, shall implies a promise, command or determination. “You shall receive your wages,” “he shall receive his wages,” imply that you or he ought to receive them; but usage gives to these phrases the force of a promise in the person uttering them. When shall is uttered with emphasis in such phrases, it expresses determination in the speaker, and implies an authority to enforce the act. “Do you refuse to go? Does he refuse to go? But you or he shall go.”
3. Shall I go, shall he go, interrogatively, asks for permission or direction. But shall you go, asks for information of another's intention.
4. But after another verb, shall, in the third person simply foretells. He says that he shall leave town to-morrow. So also the second person; you say that you shall ride to-morrow.
5. After if and some verbs which express condition or supposition, shall, in all the persons, simply foretells; as, If I shall say, or we shall say, Thou shalt say, ye or you shall say, He shall say, they shall say.
6. Should, in the first person, implies a conditional event. “I should have written a letter yesterday, had I not been interrupted.” Or it expresses obligation, and that in all the persons. I should, Thou shouldst, He should, You should, have paid the bill on demand; it was my duty, your duty, his duty to pay the bill on demand, but it was not paid.
7. Should, though properly the past tense of shall, is often used to express a contingent future event; as, if it should rain to-morrow; if you should go to London next week; if he should arrive within a month. In like manner after though, grant, admit, allow.

SHAL-LA'LAH, n.

A stick or rod. [Irish.]

SHAL-LOON', n. [said to be from Chalons, in France; Sp. chaleon; Fr. ras de Chalons.]

A slight woolen stuff. – Swift.

SHAL'LOP, n. [Fr. chaloupe; Sp. and Port. chalupa; G. schaluppe. This word is changed into sloop; but the two words have now different significations.]

1. A sort of large boat with two masts, and usually rigged like a schooner. – Mar. Dict.
2. A small light vessel with a small main-mast and fore-mast, with lug-sails. – Encyc.

SHAL'LOW, a. [from shoal, Sax. sceol, a crowd, or rather sculf, a shelf.]

1. Not deep; having little depth; shoal; as, shallow water; a shallow stream; a shallow brook. – Dryden.
2. Not deep; not entering far into the earth; as, a shallow furrow; a shallow trench. – Dryden.
3. Not intellectually deep; not profound; I not penetrating deeply into abstruse subjects; superficial; as, a shallow mind or understanding; shallow skill. Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself. – Milton.
4. Slight; not deep; as, a shallow sound. – Bacon.

SHAL'LOW, n.

A shoal; a shelf; a flat; a sand-bank; any place where the water is not deep. A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel. – Bacon. Dash'd on the shallows of the moving sand. – Dryden.

SHAL'LOW, v.t.

To make shallow. [Little used.] – Herbert.

SHAL'LOW-BRAIN-ED, a.

Weak in intellect; foolish; empty headed. – South.

SHAL'LOW-LY, adv.

1. With little depth. – Carew.
2. Superficially; simply; without depth of thought or judgment; not wisely. – Shak.

SHAL'LOW-NESS, n.

1. Want of depth; small depth; as, the shallowness of water, of a river, of a stream.
2. Superficialness of intellect; want of power to enter deeply into subjects; emptiness; silliness.

SHAL'LOW-SEARCH-ING, a.

Searching superficially. – Milton.