shy

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophone: Chi

shy (comparative shier or shyer or more shy, superlative shiest or shyest or most shy)

shy (2) woman

1. Easily frightened; timid.
   • (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift?)

     The horses of the army […] were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.

2. Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.

   He is very shy with strangers.

   • (Can we date this quote by Arbuthnot?)

     What makes you so shy, my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.

3. Cautious; wary; suspicious.
   • (Can we date this quote by Boyle?)

     I am very shy of using corrosive liquors in the preparation of medicines.

   • (Can we date this quote by Sir H. Wotton?)

     Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.

4. (informal) Short, insufficient or less than.

   By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.

   It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.

   • 2018 December 1, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 - 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport‎:

     United move seventh - still six points off a Champions League place and a massive 16 shy of the lead held by rivals Manchester City.

5. Embarrassed. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase.
• Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy "shy of leashes" or head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.

• See also Thesaurus:shy

• audacious
• bold
• brazen

• shy bairns get nowt, shy bairns get noot

• bashful
• reserved
• timid
• demure
• coy

shy (third-person singular simple present shies, present participle shying, simple past and past participle shied)

1. (intransitive) To avoid due to timidness or caution.

   I shy away from investment opportunities I don't understand.

2. (intransitive) To jump back in fear.

   The horse shied away from the rider, which startled him so much he shied away from the horse.

3. (transitive) to throw sideways with a jerk; to fling

   to shy a stone; to shy a slipper

   • Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone (chapter VI)

     "I was thinking, sir," I answered, "that I should like to shy the Diamond into the quicksand, and settle the question in that way."

   (Can we find and add a quotation of T. Hughes to this entry?)

shy (plural shies)

1. An act of throwing.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Thackeray to this entry?)

   • Punch

     If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 55:

     The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy.

2. A place for throwing.

   coconut shy

3. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
4. In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.

• coconut shy

• Hys, hys, syh