Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small, crudely built cabin; a shanty.
- intransitive verb To live or dwell.
- idiom (shack up) To live together and have sexual relations without being married.
- idiom (shack up) To live, room, or stay at a place.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To rove about, as a stroller or beggar.
- To go after, as a ball batted to a distance.
- noun Grain fallen from the ear and eaten by hogs, etc., after harvest; also, fallen mast or acorns.
- noun Liberty of winter pasturage.
- noun In the fisheries, bait picked up at sea by any means, as the flesh of porpoises or of sea-birds, refuse fish, etc., as distinguished from the regular stock of bait carried by the vessel or otherwise depended upon. Also
shack-bait . - noun [⟨ shack, verb, 3.] A very roughly built house or cabin, especially such a one as is put up for temporary occupation while securing a claim under the United States preëmption laws.
- noun A strolling vagabond; a shiftless or worthless fellow; a tramp.
- noun A seafaring catch of fish made up of hake, pollack, and other cheap varieties, especially those of the cod family.
- noun The right of common pasturage; the straying of cattle into public or on inclosed land.
- Relating to a catch of sea-fish of the cheaper varieties, or of shack-bait.
- To be shed or fall, as corn at harvest.
- To feed on stubble, or upon the waste corn of the field.
- To hibernate, as an animal, especially the bear: also said of men who “lay up” or “hole up” for the winter, or go into winter quarters.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb Prov. Eng. To shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.
- transitive verb Prov. Eng. To feed in stubble, or upon waste corn.
- transitive verb Prev.Eng. To wander as a vagabond or a tramp.
- noun colloq. a small simple dwelling, usually having only one room and of flimsy construction; a hut; a shanty; a cabin.
- noun Prov. Eng. The grain left after harvest or gleaning; also, nuts which have fallen to the ground.
- noun Prov. Eng. Liberty of winter pasturage.
- noun Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U.S. A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.
- noun (Eng.Law) the right of persons occupying lands lying together in the same common field to turn out their cattle to range in it after harvest.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A crude, roughly built
hut orcabin . - noun Any unpleasant, poorly constructed or poorly furnished building.
- verb To
live in or with; toshack up . - noun obsolete Grain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.
- noun obsolete Nuts which have fallen to the ground.
- noun obsolete Freedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.
- noun UK, US, dialect, obsolete A
shiftless fellow; a low,itinerant beggar ; avagabond ; atramp . - verb obsolete To shed or fall, as corn or grain at
harvest . - verb obsolete To feed in
stubble , or uponwaste .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make one's home in a particular place or community
- noun small crude shelter used as a dwelling
- verb move, proceed, or walk draggingly or slowly
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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In sim, we pretend that the shack is a bubble and the path is a pressurized tunnel.
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Instead of a dump, this shack is a mansion in an Eden-like garden where God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit embrace him.
'Shack' opens doors, but critics call book 'scripturally incorrect' 2008
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Mack's weekend at the shack is a compressed journey toward belief, forgiveness and acceptance.
'Shack' opens doors, but critics call book 'scripturally incorrect' 2008
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And they had what they called shack rousters then.
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The story of Leslie, the woman who was forced to leave her nice home and live in a shack, is also very inspiring.
An Enduring Marriage 2009
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'O master,' he said, 'we have laid by great wealth in molasses and sugar and flour, but our shack is yet mean, our clothes thin, and our sleeping furs mangy.
A HYPERBOREAN BREW 2010
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'O master,' he said, 'we have laid by great wealth in molasses and sugar and flour, but our shack is yet mean, our clothes thin, and our sleeping furs mangy.
A HYPERBOREAN BREW 2010
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This shack is still the object of occasional pilgrimages by 21st-century science fiction writers.
Boing Boing 2008
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Scene: Rib joint, one step up from a tin shack on the side of the road.
Trippin' 2008
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You never know, maybe if we can ever get Deeter outside of the mountain shack we may venture south as a group.
Winter Fishing Blues Tim Romano 2008
vanishedone commented on the word shack
Is use as a verb common? I don't think I've ever heard it, so I've applied the WeirdNet tag.
January 18, 2009
rolig commented on the word shack
To live with someone as a couple without the sanction of marriage is "to shack up" with that person. That at least is the first use of the verb "to shack" that comes to mind. The Weirdnet definitions are weird to me also.
January 18, 2009
vanishedone commented on the word shack
Good point; but it's a phrasal verb, so the up has to be included.
January 18, 2009
JimG commented on the word shack
June 28, 2009