shy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃaɪ/
rhymes: -aɪ
homophone: Chi (Chicago)
Forms: form: shier
form: shyer
form: more shy
form: shiest
form: shyest
form: most shy
Etymology: From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).
Etymology tree
Middle English shy
English shy
Senses: examples: text: The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led before me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.
ref: 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):
antonyms: bold
brave
confident
courageous
adventurous
fearless
unshy
glosses: Easily frightened; timid.
examples: text: He is very shy with strangers.
text: VVhat makes you ſo ſhy of late, my good Friend? There's no Body loves you better than I, nor has taken more Pains in your Affairs: […]
ref: 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “An Account of the Conference between Mrs. Bull and Don Diego Dismallo”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], Edinburgh: […] James Watson, […], →OCLC, page 25:
text: Graham Norton: But the people coming up to you now, like the Americans, well, you know, the Americans, they're not shy, the Americans. / Maggie Smith: No. Well, no but I don't go anywhere where really they can get at me. It's usually in museums and art galleries and things, so that limits things. I keep away from there, and Harrod's I don't go near.
ref: 2015 October 30, The Graham Norton Show, season 18, episode 6:
antonyms: audacious
bold
cheeky
brazen
gregarious
outgoing
confident
forward#Adjective
unshy
glosses: Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
examples: text: We grant, although he had much wit, / H' was very shy of using it; / As being loth to wear it out, / And therefore bore it not about,
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “. Canto I.”, in Hudibras, London; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
text: Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
ref: 1641, Henry Wotton, The Characters of Robert Devereux and George Villiers:
text: […] I am very ſhy of building any thing of moment upon foundations that I eſteem ſo unſure, […]
ref: 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”, in Certain Physiological Essays and Other Tracts; […], 2nd edition, London: […] Henry Herringman […], published 1669, →OCLC, page 33:
glosses: Cautious; wary; suspicious.
examples: text: By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
text: It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
text: 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 three shy of a million a week.
ref: 2013, Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street, spoken by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio):
text: United move seventh - still six points off a Champions League place and a massive 16 shy of the lead held by rivals Manchester City.
ref: 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 – 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Short, insufficient or less than.
glosses: Embarrassed.
examples: text: Pollsters need to remember the shy Tory factor.
topics: government
politics
glosses: Less likely to reveal whom they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on polling accuracy.
raw_tags: of a voter
Synonyms: word: abashed
word: bashful
word: bookish
word: coy
word: distant
word: embarrassed
word: hesitant
word: mousy
word: passive
word: quiet
word: reclusive
word: retiring
word: shamefast
word: sheep-faced
word: sheepish
word: shy
word: submissive
word: timid
word: uncommunicative
Derived terms: bird-shy
book-shy
boy-shy
call-shy
camera-shy
car-shy
cat-shy
cover-shy
crate shy of a load
few cards shy of a full deck
fight shy
fight shy of
girl-shy
gunshy
gun-shy
hand-shy
head-shy
hood-shy
look shy
love-shy
man-shy
mouse-shy
noise-shy
one card shy of a full deck
pee-shy
people-shy
piss shy
-shy
shy bairns get nowt
shy bairns get noot
shy bladder
shy greenhood
shy Tory
water-shy
woman-shy
workshy
work-shy
Related terms: word: bashful
word: reserved
word: timid
word: demure
word: coy
word: wouldn't say boo to a goose
word: shyness
word: shy person
word: cautious