of idlers in it, ready for anything except working for an honest living—easily earning the cognomen of Alfreton shacks. . . . The date of the origin of the rhyme is probably about 1800.
1888. Detroit Free Press, 29 Sep. The meanest, wickedest, low-down, shack-nasty lot of heathens in America.
1896. Oppenheim, False Evidence, xxvi. What would you have me do? Shack about with my hands in my pockets all day.
2. (American).—See quots. In Canada shack = dwelling.
1887. Roberts, Western Avernus. I . . . and Mitchell were in one of the shacks or huts.
1881. New York Times, 18 Dec. [quoted in 'Noll' 6 S., v. 65 missing]. Shack.—A log cabin. The average shack comprises but one room, and is customarily roofed with earth, supported by poles.
1882. Century Mag., 511. A shack is a one-story house built of cotton-wood logs, driven in the ground like piles, or laid one upon another. The roof is of sticks and twigs covered with dirt, and if there is no woman to insist on tidiness, the floor will be of pounded earth.
3. (Post Office).—A misdirected or returned letter.
Shackle, subs. (American).—A
raffle.
1885. Western Gaz., 30 Jan. [Notes and Queries, 6 S., xi. 245]. [He] was asked by a young man to join in a shackle for live tame rabbits.
Shackly (or Shackling), adj.
(American).—Ricketty; ramshackle
(q.v.).
1872. J. T. Trowbridge, Coupon Bonds, 387. The gate itself was such a shackling concern, a child couldn't have leaned on it without breaking it down.
1876. Century, xxv. 672. An unpainted and shackly dwelling.
1884. Clemens, Huck. Finn., xxi. All kinds of old shackly wagons.
1885. J. W. Palmer, New and Old, 55. Very small mean, slender and brittle-looking, or what old coloured nurses call shackly.
1900. Savage, Brought to Bay, v. Caliente, a shackly frontier settlement.
Shack-stoner, subs. phr.—As in
quot. [?6d.].
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xvii. Oh! I knows 'em all and can recon 'em up, from a shack-stoner to a cold 'tater. You see I've been at the stand for twelve years. Ibid., xx. You see, if yer get a rozzer to call yer up he wants a schack-stoner, but if I call 'em up I gets a thrummer a week.
Shad, subs. (American).—A prostitute.
See Tart.
Shadbelly, subs. (American).—A
Quaker: the Quaker coat
from neck to skirt follows the
ventral line of the shad—hence
shad-bellied = sloping in front
like a Quaker coat. Cf. cutaway.
1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 8. He was kind 'o mournfnl and thin and shad-bellied.
1870. Judd, Margaret, i. 13. Three cornered hats, shad-bellied coats, shoe and knee buckles.
Shade, subs. (common).—In pl. =
wine-vaults: also as in quot. 1823.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Shades. The Shades at London Bridge are under Fishmongers' Hall. . . . The Shades at Spring Gardens is a subterranean ale-shop.
Verb. (thieves').—To conceal; to keep secret.
Shadkin, subs. (American).—A
marriage-broker.
Shadow, subs. and verb. (old).—1.
A spy or close attendant:
e.g. (1) a detective; (2) see quot.
1869; (3) a bosom friend; and
(4) a jackal (q.v.). As verb. =
(1) to track, to spy, to dog (q.v.);
and (2) to be inseparable.
1607. Tourneur, Revenger's Tragedy, ii. 3. Ven. I'd almost forgotthe bastard! Lus. What of him? Ven. This night, this hour, this minute, nowLus. What? what? Ven. Shadows the duchess.
