2. See Chantey.
Shap, subs. (venery).—1. The female pudendum: see Monosyllable. Also Shape.
[?]. Owayne Myles [MS. Cott. Calig. A ii. 91]. And some were yn to shappus And some were vp to the pappus.
[?]. Relig. Antiq., ii. 20. Semeramis hir name . . . Which wold no man in eny wyse denye, But wyth her croked shap encreece and multeply.
d. 1529. Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 492. An old rybybe . . . had broken her shyn At the the threshold comying in, And fell so wyde open That one myght see her token . . . Said Elynour Rummyng . . . Fy, couer thy shap With sum flyp flap.
1530. Palsgrave, Lang. Francoyse, fol. xxvi. Count, a womans shappe, con.
1538. Elyot, Dict., s.v. Hippomares. The shape of a mare.
1847. Halliwell, Arch. Words, s.v. Shape. The A. S. gesceapu, verenda, pudenda . . . Still in common use in Lincolnshire, used especially in the case of infants and children.
2. (Western American).—See quot.
1885. Stavely Hill, From Home to Home. A pair of shaps, or leather overalls, with tags and fringes down the seams.
Shape, subs. (vulgar).—In pl. = (1)
an ill-made man (B. E.), and (2)
a tight-laced girl (Halliwell).
Hence to show one's shape =
(1) to strip: specifically (old) 'to
peel (q.v.) at the whipping-post'
(Grose), and (2) to turn about and
march off; stuck on one's shape
= pleased with one's appearance;
'There's a shape for you' = an
ironical comment on a skeleton-like
person or animal—a rack-of-bones
(q.v.); to travel
on one's shape = to swindle,
to live by one's appearance;
to spoil one's shape =
to be got with child; shape-smith
= a stay-maker; in good
shape = quite correct; to cut
up (or show) one's shape =
to frolic.
1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie [Works (1725), 74]. My son's so big (which rarely falls) About his , and Genitals, That I am half afraid lest he Should chance to spoil her Majesty.
d. 1704. Brown, Works, ii. 97. The French king who had spoil'd the shape . . . of several mistresses . . . had a mind to do the same by me.
1715. Garth, Claremont, 98. No shape-smith set up shop and drove a trade To mend the work wise Providence had made.
1896. Crane, Maggie, vi. Say, Mag, I'm stuck on yer shape.
Verb. (colloquial).—To turn out; to behave.
1369. Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 61. So shop it that hym fil that day a tene In love, for whiche in wo to bedde he wente.
1605. Shakspeare, Cymbeline, v. 5, 346. Their dear loss, The more of you 'twas felt, the more it shaped Unto my end of stealing them.
1888. Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, xxxvii. 'Well, I'm in your power, now,' says he, 'let's see how you'll shape.' Ibid., xxii. We shall have to shape after a bit.
1891. Gould, Double Event, 123. I am very anxious to see how my horse shapes.
1893. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 71. Briggs or no Briggs I shaped spiffin.
1898. Gould, Landed at Last, v. 'He shapes as well as ever' . . . 'Moves splendidly.'
1902. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 Feb., 1, 2. We should wait to see how he shaped, before deciding whether he was a personage to be encouraged or taught his place.
1902. Delannoy, £19,000, xxvi. How do you shape? . . . without bedclothes and with rodent company, or will you give me the letter? Ibid., xxix. He seems to be shaping himself for a straight jacket.
Shappo, subs. (old).—A hat, 'the
newest Cant, Nab being very old,
and grown too common' (B. E.,
c. 1696); also shappeau, shoppo,
shopo, shapo [Fr. chapeau].
