shy

1. (international standards)ISO 639-3language code forTachawit. The native name for theShawiya language.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Tachawit terms

FromMiddle Englishshy(“shy”), fromOld Englishsċēoh(“shy”), fromProto-West Germanic*skeuh(“shy, fearful”), fromProto-Germanic*skeuhaz(“shy, fearful”). Cognate withSaterland Frisianskjou(“shy”),Dutchschuw(“shy”),Germanscheu(“shy”),Danishsky(“shy”).

• IPA^(key):/ʃaɪ/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-aɪ
• Homophone:Chi(Chicago)

shy (comparativeshierorshyerormoreshy,superlativeshiestorshyestormostshy)

1. Easily frightened;timid.

   Antonyms:bold,brave,confident,courageous,adventurous,fearless,unshy

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift],Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.[…][Gulliver’s Travels], London:[…]Benj[amin] Motte, […],→OCLC,(please specify |part=I to IV):

     The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led before me, were no longershy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.

2. Reserved;disinclined tofamiliarapproach.

   Synonyms:seeThesaurus:shy

   Antonyms:audacious,bold,cheeky,brazen,gregarious,outgoing,confident,forward,unshy

   He is veryshy with strangers.

   • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym;John Arbuthnot], “An Account of the Conference between Mrs. Bull and Don Diego Dismallo”, inJohn Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], Edinburgh:[…]James Watson, […],→OCLC,page25:

     VVhat makes you ſoſhy of late, my good Friend? There's no Body loves you better than I, nor has taken more Pains in your Affairs:[…]

   • 2015 October 30,The Graham Norton Show, season18, episode 6:

     Graham Norton: But the people coming up to you now, like the Americans, well, you know, the Americans, they're notshy, the Americans. /Maggie Smith: No. Well, no but I don't go anywhere where really theycan get at me. It's usually in museums and art galleries and things, so that limits things. I keep away from there, andHarrod's I don't go near.

3. Cautious;wary; suspicious.
   • 1662 (indicated as1663), [Samuel Butler], “. Canto I.”, inHudibras, London; republished inA[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor,Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:University Press,1905,→OCLC:

     We grant, although he had much wit, / H' was veryshy of using it; / As being loth to wear it out, / And therefore bore it not about,

   • 1641,Henry Wotton,The Characters of Robert Devereux and George Villiers:

     Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhatshy of their successors.

   • 1661, Robert Boyle, “A Proemial Essay, wherein, with Some Considerations Touching Experimental Essays in General, is Interwoven such an Introduction to All Those Written by the Author, as is Necessary to be Perus’d for the Better Understanding of Them”, inCertain Physiological Essays and Other Tracts; […], 2nd edition, London:[…]Henry Herringman […], published1669,→OCLC,page33:

     […] I am veryſhy of building any thing of moment upon foundations that I eſteem ſo unſure,[…]

4. (informal)Short,insufficient orless than.

   By our count your shipment came up twoshy of the bill of lading amount.

   It is justshy of a mile from here to their house.

   • 2013, Terence Winter,The Wolf of Wall Street, spoken by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio):

     The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was threeshy of a million a week.

   • 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 – 2Manchester United”, inBBC Sport‎^[1]:

     United move seventh - still six points off a Champions League place and a massive 16shy of the lead held by rivals Manchester City.

5. (Can weverify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)Embarrassed.

   (Can we add anexample for this sense?)

6. (UK,US,politics, of a voter) Less likely to reveal whom they willvote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has onpollingaccuracy.

   Pollsters need to remember theshy Tory factor.

• Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase.
• Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy "shy of leashes" orhead shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.

• bashful
• reserved
• timid
• demure
• coy

shy (third-person singular simple presentshies,present participleshying,simple past and past participleshied)

1. (intransitive) Toavoid due tocaution,embarrassment ortimidness.

   Synonym:shy away

   • (Can wedate this quote by Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?) (page 172)

     Courts might tend toshy from limiting Congress under such a vague standard.

2. (intransitive) Tojump back infear.

   Synonyms:start,startle

   The horseshied at the unexpected approach of a motor vehicle.

3. (transitive) Tothrowsideways with ajerk; tofling.

   Synonyms:bowl;see alsoThesaurus:throw

   toshy a stone

   shy a slipper

   • 1857, [Thomas Hughes], “How the Tide Turned”, inTom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:Macmillan & Co.,→OCLC, part II,page248:

     Then two or three boys laughed and sneered, and a big brutal fellow, who was standing in the middle of the room, picked up a slipper, andshied it at the kneeling boy, calling him a snivelling young shaver.

   • 1868 January 4 – June 6,[William] Wilkie Collins, “First Period. The Loss of the Diamond (1848). […]”, inThe Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume I, London:Tinsley Brothers, […], published1868,→OCLC, chapter VI,page78:

     "I was thinking, sir," I answered, "that I should like toshy the Diamond into the quicksand, and settle the question inthat way."

4. (Scotland,transitive,intransitive) To throw a ball with two hands above the head, especially when it has crossed the side lines in a football (soccer) match.
5. (Scotland) To hit the ball back into play from the sidelines in ashinty match.

shy (pluralshies)

1. An act ofthrowing.
   • 1848 November –1850 December,William Makepeace Thackeray,The History of Pendennis. […], volume(please specify |volume=I or II), London:Bradbury and Evans, […], published1849–1850,→OCLC:

     Foker discharged a prodigious bouquet at her, and even Smirke made a feebleshy with a rose, and blushed dreadfully when it fell into the pit

   • 1846,Punch, volume10:

     If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have ashy at somebody.

   • 2008,James Kelman,Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published2009, page55:

     The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for ashy.

2. A place forthrowing.

   coconutshy

3. A suddenstartaside, as by ahorse.
4. In the Eton Collegewall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in thecalx.
5. (Scotland,soccer) Athrow-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head.
6. (Scotland) Inshinty, the act of tossing the ball above the head and hitting it with the shaft of thecaman to bring it back into play after it has been hit out of the field.
7. (archaic) Agibe; asneer.

• coconut shy
• have a shy

• Hys,hys,syh