1654. Webster, Appius and Virginia, ii. 2. Was't you, my nimble shaver that would whet Your sword 'gainst your commander's throat?
1655. Hist. of Francion [Nares]. There were some cunning shavers amongst us, who were very well verst in the art of picking locks.
1664. Cotton, Virgil Travestie (1st ed.), 62. And said, My Mother's a mad shaver, No man alive knows where to have her.
c. 1685. Broadside Ballad, 'The London Lasses Folly' [Pepys Ball. (Bodleian) iii. 236]. Now will I ramble up and down to find out this young shaver.
1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iii. 1. Who wou'd imagine now, that this young shaver cou'd dream of a woman so soon?
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ix. He drew a pistol, and fired it at the unfortunate shaver, who fell flat on the ground without speaking one word.
d. 1796. Burns, A Dream. Funny, queer Sir John, He was an unco' shaver, For monie a day.
1834. Southey, The Doctor. No one has ever given him credit for being a cunning shaver.
1836. Scott, Cruise of Midge, 3. A sharpish sort of a shaver. Ibid. Tom Cringle's Log (1836), x. A smart dandified SHAVER.
1837. Barham. Ingoldsby Legends (1862), 315. And all for a "shrimp" not as high as my hat—A little contemptible shaver like that.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxiii. 323. 'Not these,' he added, looking down upon the boys, 'ain't them two young shavers as was so familiar to me.'
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, xiv. The very youngest of the shavelings who aspire to dandyism call him "Buttercup" to his face.
1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story, i. Mr. Gilfil called it his wonderful pocket, because, as be delighted to tell the young shavers and "two-shoes" . . . whenever he put pennies into it, they turned into sugar-plums or gingerbread, or some other nice thing.
1874. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S. 25. The two children (little shavers in petticoats) set up a roar in court.
1889. Time, Aug., 153. The contemptible little shaver.
1893. Emerson, Lippo, xvi. Well to see this young shaver pilot your horse to the post was a treat.
2. (common).—A short jacket; a BUM-PERISHER (q.V.)
3. See Shave.
Shaving-brush, subs. phr.
(venery).—The female pubic
hair: see Fleece and Lather.
Shavings, subs. (old).—'The clippings
of money' (B. E. and Grose).
Shay, subs. (common).—A chaise.
1840. Lytton, Paul Clifford, xxxi. When I puts myself out of the way To obleedge you with a shay.
She, subs. (once literary: now
vulgar).—A woman: also she-one:
cf. he = a man. Hence She-house
(Grose) = a house under
petticoat rule; she-school = a
girls' school.
1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, i. 5, 259. Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive. Ibid. (1605) Cymbeline, i. 3. The shes of Italy should not betray Mine interest and his honour.
1648-55. Fuller, Ch. Hist., vi. 297. Nunneries also were good shee-schools.
d. 1650. Crashaw, To his Supposed Mistress. That not impossible she That shall command my heart and me.
1704. Steele, Lying Lover, i. 1. I . . . gaz'd . . . till I forgot 'twas winter, so many pretty she's marched by me.
2. (Charterhouse).—A plum pudding: also SHEE: cf. HE.
Shearer's Joy, subs. phr. (Australian).—Colonial
beer.
1892. Gilbert Parker, Round the Compass, 22. It was the habit afterwards among the seven to say that the officers of the Eliza Jane had been indulging in shearer's joy.
Shears. Pair of Shears, subs.
phr. (old).—A striking likeness;
little or no difference: e.g.,
'There's a pair of shears' =
'They're as like as two peas.'
