shy
Pronunciation: /ʃaɪ/
The English word “shy” has 17 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Easily frightened; timid.
- Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
- Cautious; wary; suspicious.
- Short, insufficient or less than.
- Less likely to reveal whom they will vote for than average, chiefly in the context of the collective effect this has on polling accuracy.
verb
- To avoid due to caution, embarrassment or timidness.
- To jump back in fear.
- To throw sideways with a jerk; to fling.
- To throw a ball with two hands above the head, especially when it has crossed the side lines in a football (soccer) match.
- To hit the ball back into play from the sidelines in a shinty match.
noun
- An act of throwing.
- A place for throwing.
- A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
- In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.
- A throw-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head.
- In shinty, the act of tossing the ball above the head and hitting it with the shaft of the caman to bring it back into play after it has been hit out of the field.
- A gibe; a sneer.
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”).
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.