<B>shadow figure,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a flat figure or silhouette used in puppetry to cast shadows on a screen. </DL>
<A NAME="shadowgram">
<B>shadowgram, </B>noun. <B>=shadowgraph </B>(definitions 1 and 2).</DL>
<A NAME="shadowgraph">
<B>shadowgraph, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a picture produced by throwing a shadow on a lighted screen. <DD><B> 2. </B>an X-ray picture; radiograph. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=shadow play.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="shadowgraphist">
<B>shadowgraphist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is skilled or trained in shadowgraphy. </DL>
<A NAME="shadowgraphy">
<B>shadowgraphy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the producing of shadowgraphs. </DL>
<A NAME="shadowland">
<B>shadowland, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a region of shadows, phantoms, unrealities, or uncertainties. <BR> <I>Ex. Congress ... has a responsibility to watch carefully over an agency it created to stand watch in that shadowland between peace and war (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shadowless">
<B>shadowless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or casting no shadow. adv. <B>shadowlessly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="shadowmatter">
<B>shadow matter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Astronomy.) a hypothetical form of matter that interacts with ordinary matter only through gravity and not through electromagnetism or the strong or weak interactions. <BR> <I>Ex. Shadow matter ... interacts with us extremely feebly and is virtually undetectable (Dietrick E. Thomsen).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Compare <B>dark matter.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="shadowofdeath">
<B>shadow of death,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the darkness or gloom of death, especially imminent death. <BR> <I>Ex. Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death (Job 10:21).</I> </DL>
<B>shadow play,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an entertainment in which the shadows of actors, puppets, or other forms are cast upon a screen placed between the stage and the auditorium. <BR> <I>Ex. In these shadow plays, the figures are made of cardboard with translucent paper for the eyes and mouth (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shadowy">
<B>shadowy, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having much shadow or shade; shady. <BR> <I>Ex. We are glad to leave the hot sun and come into the cool, shadowy room.</I> (SYN) dark, obscure. <DD><B> 2. </B>like a shadow; dim, faint, or slight. <BR> <I>Ex. We saw a shadowy outline on the window curtain. (Figurative.) But as for who the shadowy seller of the forgeries was, no one had the slightest idea (New Yorker).</I> (SYN) fleeting, vague, indistinct. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) not real; ghostly; imaginary. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) symbolic. adv. <B>shadowily.</B> noun <B>shadowiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="shadrach">
<B>Shadrach, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a companion of Daniel, one of the three young Hebrews who remained unharmed in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace (in the Bible, Daniel 2:49-3:30). <BR> <I>Ex. The oil that calked the walls of Babylon and may have fired the furnace through which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked unscathed now bubbles through huge pipelines to the Mediterranean (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shadscale">
<B>shadscale, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a low scaly shrub of the goosefoot family growing in dry, salty areas of the western United States. </DL>
<A NAME="shaduf">
<B>shaduf, </B>noun. <B>=shadoof.</B></DL>
<A NAME="shadwaiter">
<B>shad-waiter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a whitefish of lakes of Siberia and North America from New England to Alaska. </DL>
<A NAME="shady">
<B>shady, </B>adjective, <B>shadier,</B> <B>shadiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in the shade; shaded. (SYN) shadowy. <DD><B> 2. </B>giving shade. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) of doubtful honesty or character. <BR> <I>Ex. That man is a shady character, if not an actual criminal.</I> (SYN) dubious, questionable. adv. <B>shadily.</B> noun <B>shadiness.</B> </DL>
<B>Shafi'i, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a large sect of Sunnites or orthodox Moslems in Yemen. </DL>
<A NAME="shaft">
<B>shaft, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a bar to support parts of a machine that turn, or to help move parts such as gears or pulleys, or to transmit power from one part of a machine to another, such as the drive shaft of an automobile. <DD><B> 2. </B>a deep passage sunk in the earth. The entrance to a mine is called a shaft. <BR> <I>Ex. He had been caught by a landslide in a tiny shaft of the cave (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a passage that is like a well; long, narrow space. <BR> <I>Ex. an elevator shaft.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the long, slender stem of an arrow, spear, or lance. <DD><B> 5. </B>an arrow, spear, or lance. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) something aimed at a person like an arrow or spear. <BR> <I>Ex. shafts of ridicule. A shield against its shafts of doubt (John Greenleaf Whittier). The shaft of love ... had struck me (Arnold Bennett).</I> <DD><B> 7a. </B>a ray or beam of light. <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. [His] observations are a refreshing and badly needed shaft of common sense (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>one of the two wooden poles between which a horse is harnessed to a carriage or other vehicle. <DD><B> 9. </B>the main part of a column or pillar. <DD><B> 10a. </B>a column. <DD><B> b. </B>a column or obelisk erected as a memorial. <DD><B> c. </B><B>=flagpole.</B> <DD><B> d. </B>the part of a candlestick that supports the branches. <DD><B> 11. </B>the long, straight handle as of a hammer, ax, or golf club. <BR> <I>Ex. the shaft of an umbrella.</I> <DD><B> 12. </B>a stem; stalk. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the symmetrical shaft of the cocoanut tree (Herman Melville).</I> <DD><B> 13. </B>the rib of a feather. <DD><B> 14. </B>a fiber of human hair. <DD><B> 15. </B>the long part of a bone. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to fit (an arrowhead, weapon, or tool) with a shaft. <DD><B> 2. </B>to propel (a barge or the like) with a pole. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Slang.) to take unfair advantage of; victimize. <BR> <I>Ex. "If you shaft somebody who is down ... then other people know they're going to get shafted, too" (New Yorker).</I> adj. <B>shaftlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="shafted">
<B>shafted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a shaft or shafts. </DL>
<A NAME="shafthorsepower">
<B>shaft horsepower,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the horsepower delivered by the drive shaft of an engine. (Abbr.) s.hp. </DL>
<A NAME="shafthouse">
<B>shaft house,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a heavy framework at the top of a mine shaft, to support the hoisting machinery, sometimes enclosed. </DL>
<A NAME="shafting">
<B>shafting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>shafts. <DD><B> 2. </B>a system of shafts, especially for transmitting power to machinery. <DD><B> 3. </B>material for shafts. </DL>
<A NAME="shaftman">
<B>shaftman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a man employed to sink shafts or to keep shafts in repair. <BR> <I>Ex. a colliery shaftman.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shaftment">
<B>shaftment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the feathered or back part of an arrow. </DL>
<A NAME="shafttug">
<B>shaft tug,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of a pair of long leather straps in a horse's harness to which the shafts of a carriage or wagon are attached. </DL>
<A NAME="shag">
<B>shag</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>shagged,</B> <B>shagging,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>rough, matted hair, wool, or the like. <DD><B> b. </B>a mass of this. <BR> <I>Ex. the shag of a dog.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>the long, rough nap of some kinds of cloth, especially a layer of woven loops, longer and coarser than pile. <DD><B> b. </B>cloth having such a nap, especially a fabric of worsted or silk. <DD><B> 3. </B>a tangled mass, such as of shrubs, trees, or foliage. <DD><B> 4. </B>a coarse tobacco cut into shreds. <DD><B> 5. </B>a cormorant, especially a European species which in the breeding season has a short, upright crest. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make rough or shaggy (with a growth of trees or the like). <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) to make a long or rough nap or pile on (a fabric). <DD><I>adj. </I> having a shag; shaggy. <BR> <I>Ex. a shag dog, a shag rug.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shag">
<B>shag</B> (2), verb, <B>shagged,</B> <B>shagging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> (Informal.) <B>1. </B>to catch or retrieve and throw back (a ball). <BR> <I>Ex. At ten, he was shagging flies at the Toronto Maple Leaf baseball practices (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to run after; chase. <BR> <I>Ex. He hastened in ... and shagged away the kids who played on the furniture (Saul Bellow).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>(Informal.) to catch or retrieve balls for a player. <BR> <I>Ex. During a warmup on the practice range, he had driven a ball that hit a caddie who was shagging for Bill Collins (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Slang.) to go away; leave at once; get out. <BR> <I>Ex. Time to shag. Let's shag off.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shag">
<B>shag</B> (3), noun, verb, <B>shagged,</B> <B>shagging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a hopping dance popular in the 1930's. <BR> <I>Ex. As they swoop and leap to the remembered acrobatics of the Lindy, the Shag ... time is, in a sense, expunged (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to dance the shag. </DL>
<A NAME="shagbark">
<B>shagbark, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a kind of hickory tree of eastern North America whose rough outer bark peels off in long strips. <DD><B> 2. </B>the nut of this tree. Shagbarks have fairly thin shells and are considered the best hickory nuts. <DD><B> 3. </B>its wood. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=shellbark </B>(def. 2). <DD><B> 5. </B>a cotton fabric of rough texture somewhat like the bark of the shagbark. <BR> <I>Ex. Sun dresses of pink or orchid shagbark, a cotton into which raised pin dots and stripes are woven ... (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shageared">
<B>shag-eared, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having hairy ears. <BR> <I>Ex. a shag-eared pony.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="shagged">
<B>shagged, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>covered with shaggy hair. <DD><B> b. </B>like shaggy hair. <DD><B> 2. </B>covered with a rough growth of vegetation. <BR> <I>Ex. a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged (Washington Irving).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>having a jagged or broken surface. </DL>
<A NAME="shagger">
<B>shagger, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who catches or retrieves balls and throws them back. </DL>
