English Explanatory Dictionary

shack

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A crude, roughly built hut or cabin.
  2. Any poorly constructed or poorly furnished building.
  3. The room from which a ham radio operator transmits.
verb
  1. To live (in or with); to shack up.
noun
  1. Grain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.
  2. Nuts which have fallen to the ground.
  3. Freedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.
  4. A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.
  5. Bait that can be picked up at sea.
  6. A drink, especially an alcoholic one.
verb
  1. To shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.
  2. To feed in stubble, or upon waste.
  3. To wander as a vagabond or tramp.
  4. To hibernate; to go into winter quarters.
  5. To drink, especially alcohol.
adj
  1. Alternative form of shag (“exhausted; tiring”).
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ʃæk/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shack.wav

Word forms

shack shacks shacking shacked more shack most shack

Etymology

Unknown. Some authorities derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”). Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly. Compare Tavringer Romani hak (“place, house”), Traveller Norwegian hak (“place”).

Synonyms

hovel shanty camp

Derived words

clam shack cookshack love shack radio shack shackdweller shackjob shackland shackless shacklike shack rat shack-shack shacktown shacky shotgun shack slanshack sugar shack whack shack common of shack
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