SHAPES. To shew one's shapes; to be stript, or made peel, at the whipping-post.

SHAPPO, or SHAP. A hat: corruption of CHAPEAU. CANT.

SHARK. A sharper: perhaps from his preying upon any one he can lay hold of. Also a custom-house officer, or tide-waiter. Sharks; the first order of pickpockets.

BOW-STREET TERM, A.D. 1785.

SHARP. Subtle, acute, quick-witted; also a sharper or cheat, in opposition to a flat, dupe, or gull. Sharp's the word and quick's the motion with him; said of any one very attentive to his own interest, and apt to take all advantages. Sharp set; hungry.

SHARPER. A cheat, one that lives by his wits. Sharpers tools; a fool and false dice.

SHAVER. A cunning shaver; a subtle fellow, one who trims close, an acute cheat. A young shaver; a boy.

SEA TERM.

SHAVINGS. The clippings of money.

SHE HOUSE. A house where the wife rules, or, as the term is, wears the breeches.

SHE LION. A shilling.

SHE NAPPER. A woman thief-catcher; also a bawd or pimp.

SHEEP'S HEAD. Like a sheep's head, all jaw; saying of a talkative man or woman.

SHEEPISH. Bashful. A sheepish fellow; a bashful or shamefaced fellow. To cast a sheep's eye at any thing; to look wishfully at it.

SHEEPSKIN FIDDLER. A drummer.

SHELF. On the shelf, i.e. p.a.w.ned.

SHERIFF'S JOURNEYMAN. The hangman.

SHERIFF'S BALL. An execution. To dance at the sheriff's ball, and loll out one's tongue at the company; to be hanged, or go to rest in a horse's night-cap, i.e. a halter.

SHERIFF'S BRACELETS. Handcuffs.

SHERIFF'S HOTEL. A prison.

SHERIFF'S PICTURE FRAME. The gallows.

TO SHERK. To evade or disappoint: to sherk one's duty.

TO SHERRY. To run away: sherry off.

SHIFTING. Shuffling. Tricking. Shifting cove; i.e. a person who lives by tricking.

SHIFTING BALLAST. A term used by sailors, to signify soldiers, pa.s.sengers, or any landsmen on board.

SHILLALEY. An oaken sapling, or cudgel: from a wood of that name famous for its oaks. IRISH.

SHILLY-SHALLY. Irresolute. To stand shilly-shally; to hesitate, or stand in doubt.

SHINDY. A dance. SEA PHRASE.

SHINE. It shines like a s.h.i.tten barn door.

SHIP SHAPE. Proper, as it ought to be. SEA PHRASE,

SH-T SACK. A dastardly fellow: also a non-conformist.

This appellation is said to have originated from the following story:--After the restoration, the laws against the non-conformists were extremely severe. They sometimes met in very obscure places: and there is a tradition that one of their congregations were a.s.sembled in a barn, the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in a sack fixed to the beam. His discourse that day being on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet, on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded a charge. The congregation, struck with the utmost consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving their affrighted teacher to shift for himself. The effects of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.

SH-T-NG THROUGH THE TEETH. Vomiting. Hark ye, friend, have you got a padlock on your a-se, that you sh-te through your teeth? Vulgar address to one vomiting.

SHOD ALL ROUND. A parson who attends a funeral is said to be shod all round, when he receives a hat-band, gloves, and scarf: many shoeings being only partial.

SHOEMAKER'S STOCKS. New, or strait shoes. I was in the shoemaker's stocks; i.e. had on a new pair of shoes that were too small for me.

TO SHOOLE. To go skulking about.

TO SHOOT THE CAT. To vomit from excess of liquor; called also catting.

SHOP. A prison. Shopped; confined, imprisoned.

SHOPLIFTER. One that steals whilst pretending to purchase goods in a shop.

SHORT-HEELED WENCH. A girl apt to fall on her back.

SHOT. To pay one's shot; to pay one's share of a reckoning.

Shot betwixt wind and water; poxed or clapped.

SHOTTEN HERRING. A thin meagre fellow.

To SHOVE THE TUMBLER. To be whipped at the cart's tail.

SHOVE IN THE MOUTH. A dram.

SHOVEL. To be put to bed with a shovel; to be buried.

He or she was fed with a fire-shovel; a saying of a person with a large mouth.

SHOULDER FEAST. A dinner given after a funeral, to those who have carried the corpse.

SHOULDER CLAPPER. A bailiff, or member of the catch club. Shoulder-clapped; arrested.

SHOULDER SHAM. A partner to a file. See FILE.

SHRED. A taylor.

SHRIMP. A little diminutive person.