shoulder

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The joint connecting the arm with the torso.
• noun The part of the human body between the neck and upper arm.
• noun The joint of a vertebrate animal that connects the forelimb to the trunk.
• noun The part of an animal near this joint.
• noun The area of the back from one shoulder to the other.
• noun A cut of meat including the joint of the foreleg and adjacent parts.
• noun The portion of a garment that covers the shoulder.
• noun An angled or sloping part, as.
• noun The angle between the face and flank of a bastion in a fortification.
• noun The area between the body and neck of a bottle or vase.
• noun The area of an item or object that serves as an abutment or surrounds a projection, as.
• noun The end surface of a board from which a tenon projects.
• noun Printing The flat surface on the body of type that extends beyond the letter or character.
• noun The edge or border running on either side of a roadway.
• intransitive verb To carry or place (a burden, for example) on a shoulder or on the shoulders.
• intransitive verb To take on; assume.
• intransitive verb To push or apply force to with a shoulder.
• intransitive verb To make (one's way) by shoving one's shoulders.
• intransitive verb To push with a shoulder.
• intransitive verb To make one's way by shoving one's shoulders.
• idiom (put (one's) shoulder to the wheel) To apply oneself vigorously; make a concentrated effort.
• idiom (shoulder to shoulder) In close proximity; side by side.
• idiom (shoulder to shoulder) In close cooperation.
• idiom (straight from the shoulder) Delivered directly from the shoulder. Used of a punch.
• idiom (straight from the shoulder) Honestly; candidly.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To push or thrust with the shoulder energetically or with violence.
• To take upon the shoulder or shoulders: as, to shoulder a basket; specifically (military), to carry vertically or nearly so, as a musket in one hand and resting against the arm and the hollow of the shoulder, the exact position varying in different countries and at different times.
• To form a shoulder or abutment on, by cutting or casting, as in a shaft or a beam.
• To push forward, as with the shoulder foremost; force one's way by or as if by using the shoulder, as through a crowd.
• noun A part of the body at the side and back of the bottom of the neck, and at the side and top of the chest; collectively, the parts about the scapula or blade-bone; the scapular region, including both bony and soft parts; especially, in man, the lateral prominence of these parts, where the upper arm-bone is articulated, having as its bony basis the united ends of the collar-bone and the blade-bone, overlaid by the mass of the deltoid muscle. See also cut under shoulder-blade.
• noun Figuratively, sustaining power; strength to support burdens: as, to take the work or the blame on one's own shoulders.
• noun The shoulder-joint.
• noun The parts of an animal corresponding to the shoulder of man, including some other parts, and sometimes the whole, fore quarter of an animal: thus, a shoulder of mutton includes parts of the neck, chest, and foreleg.
• noun In ornithology, the carpal joint, or wrist-joint, of a bird's wing; the bend of the wing, which, when the wing is folded, fits against the shoulder proper, and appears in the place of this.
• noun Some part projecting like a shoulder; specifically, in anatomy, the tuberculum of a rib, separated from the head by the neck, and usually articulating with the transverse process of a vertebra. See tuberculum, and cut under rib.
• noun A prominent or projecting part below the top; a rounded projection: as, the shoulder of a hill: especially, a projection on an object to oppose or limit motion or form an abutment; a horizontal or rectangular projection from the body of a thing.
• noun Specifically— The butting-ring on the axle of a vehicle.
• noun The projection of a lamp-chimney just below the contraction or neck.
• noun In carpentry, the finished end of a tenoned rail or mullion; the part from which the tenon projects, and which fits close against the piece in which the mortise is cut. See cut under mortise.
• noun In printing, the projection at the top of the shank of a type beyond the face of the letter. See cut under type.
• noun In archery, the broadest part of a barbed arrow-head; the width across the barbs, or from the shaft to the extremity of one of the barbs.
• noun The upper part of the blade of a sword.
• noun In a vase, jug, bottle, etc., the projection below the neck.
• noun In a knife, the enlarged part between the tang and the blade.
• noun In angling, a feather to the body of an artificial fly.
• noun The back part of a sail.
• noun A projecting edge or ridge; a bur.
• noun In fortification, the angle of a bastion included between the face and the flank. Also called shoulder-angle. See cut under bastion.