Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHIRT, v.t. [shurt.]

1. To cover or clothe, as with a shirt. – Dryden.
2. To change the shirt and put on a clean one.

SHIRT'ING, ppr.

Covering with a shirt.

SHIRT-LESS, a. [shurt'less.]

Wanting a shirt. – Pope.

SHIST, or SHIST'US, n.

A species of argillaceous earth or slate; clay state.

SHIST'IC, or SHIST'OUS, a.

Pertaining to shist, or partaking of its properties.

SHIT'TAH, or SHIT'TIM, n.

In Scripture, a sort of precious wood of which the tables, altars and boards of the tabernacle were made among the Jews. The wood is said to be hard, tough and smooth, and very beautiful. – Calmet.

SHIT'TLE, a. [See Shoot.]

Wavering; unsettled. [Not used or local.]

SHIT'TLE-COCK, n. [See SHUTTLE-COCK.]

SHIT'TLE-NESS, n.

Unsettledness; inconstancy. [Not in use or local.]

SHIVE, n. [shiv; D. schyf; G. scheibe. If s is a prefix, this word agrees radically with chip.]

1. A slice; a thin cut; as a shive of bread. [Not in use.] – Shak.
2. A thin flexible piece cut off. [Not in use.] – Boyle.
3. A little piece or fragment; as, the shive of flax made by breaking.

SHIV'ER, n.¹ [G. schiefer, a splinter, slate; schiefern, to shiver, to scale; Dan. skive, Sw. skifva, a slice; Dan. skifer, skiver, a slate; skifer sig, to shiver, peel or split, Sw. skifva sig.]

1. In mineralogy, a species of blue slate; shist; shale.
2. In seamen's language, a little wheel; a sheave.

SHIV'ER, n.²

A small piece or fragment into which a thing breaks by any sudden violence. He would pound thee into shivers with his fist, as a sailor breaks a biscuit. – Shak.

SHIV'ER, v.i.

1. To fall at once into many small pieces or parts. The natural world, should gravity once cease, would instantly shiver into millions of atoms. – Woodward.
2. To quake; to tremble; to shudder; to shake, as with cold, ague, fear or horror. The man that shiver'd on the brink of sin. – Dryden. Prometheus is laid / On icy Caucasus to shiver. – Swift.
3. To be affected with a thrilling sensation, like that of chilliness. Any very harsh noise will set the teeth on edge, and make all the body shiver. – Bacon.

SHIVER, v.t. [supra. Qu. Heb. שבר, to break into pieces. Class Br, No. 26.]

To break into many small pieces or splinters; to shatter; to dash to pieces by a blow. The ground with shiver'd armor strown. Milton.

SHIV'ER-ED, pp.

Broken or dashed into small pieces.

SHIV'ER-ING, n.

1. The act of breaking or dashing to pieces; division; severance.
2. A trembling; a shaking with cold or fear.

SHIV'ER-ING, ppr.

1. Breaking or dashing into small pieces.
2. Quaking; trembling; shaking, as with cold or fear.

SHIV'ER-ING-LY, adv.

With shivering, or slight trembling.

SHIV'ER-SPAR, n. [G. schiefer-spath.]

A carbonate of lime, so called from its slaty structure; called also slate-spar. – Phillips.

SHIV'ER-Y, a.

Easily falling into many pieces; not firmly cohering; incompact; as, shivery stone.

SHOAD, n.

Among miners, a train of metallic stones which serves to direct them in the discovery of mines. – Encyc.

SHOAD'-STONE, n.

A small stone, smooth, of a dark liver color with a shade of purple. Shoad-stones are loose masses found at the entrance of mines, sometimes running in a straight line from the surface to a vein of ore. They appear to be broken from the strata or larger masses; they usually contain mundic or marcasitic matter, and a portion of the ore of the mine.

SHOAL, a.

Shallow; of little depth; as, shoal water.

SHOAL, n. [Sax. sceol, a crowd. It should rather be written Shole.]

1. A great multitude assembled; a crowd; a throng; as, shoals of people. Immense shoals of herring appear on the coast in the spring. The vices of a prince draw shoals of followers. – Decay of Piety.
2. A place where the water of a river, lake or sea is shallow or of little depth; a sand-bank or bar; a shallow. The entrance of rivers is often rendered difficult or dangerous by shoals.

SHOAL, v.i.

1. To crowd; to throng; to assemble in a multitude. The fishes shoaled about the place. – Chapman.
2. To become more shallow. The water shoals as we approach the town.