SHANTY

hovel, hut, hutch, shack, shanty

(noun) small crude shelter used as a dwelling

chantey, chanty, sea chantey, shanty

(noun) a rhythmical work song originally sung by sailors

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

shanty (plural shanties)

A roughly-built hut or cabin.

Synonym: shack

A rudimentary or improvised dwelling, especially one not legally owned.

(Australia, New Zealand) An unlicensed pub.

Synonym: speakeasy

Adjective

shanty (not comparable)

(US, pejorative) Living in shanties; poor, ill-mannered and violent.

Usage notes

Applied to poor Irish immigrants, from the mid-1800s.

Verb

shanty (third-person singular simple present shanties, present participle shantying, simple past and past participle shantied)

To inhabit a shanty.

Etymology 2

Noun

shanty (plural shanties)

A song a sailor sings, especially in rhythm to his work.

Synonym: sea shanty

Hypernym: work song

Etymology 3

Adjective

shanty (comparative more shanty, superlative most shanty)

Jaunty; showy.

Source: Wiktionary


Shan"ty, a.

Definition: Jaunty; showy. [Prov. Eng.]

Shan"ty, n.;pl. Shanties. Etym: [Said to be fr. Ir. sean old + tig. a house.]

Definition: A small, mean dwelling; a rough, slight building for temporary use; a hut.

Shan"ty, v. i.

Definition: To inhabit a shanty. S. H. Hammond.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

3 April 2025

WHOLE

(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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