A Dictionary of Cont..

shine 450
ing Ephraimites (who could not “frame to
pronounce” the sound sh but pronounced it s
instead) from their own men, many of the
Ephraimites claiming to be Gileadites.
shine. The past tense is shone. The participle is
also shone.
The verb meaning “cause to shine” is formed
regularly with the past tense and participle
shined, as in he shined the light on the water
and he shined his shoes. This is literary English.
In current speech the form shone is often used
in the sense of “make a light shine,” as in he
shone the light on the water. This is condemned
by some grammarians but is acceptable to many
educated people. Only the form shined is used
in the sense of “make shiny,” as in he shined
his shoes.
Shine may be followed by an adjective describing
what shines, as in the light shone red.
It may also be followed by an adverb describing
the shining, as in the light shone redly.
There is usually no difference in meaning between
the two forms.
shingle. The basic sense of shingle, in America
and England, is a thin piece of wood (or asbestos
or asphalt-impregnated paper made to
resemble wood shingles), usually oblong and
with one end thicker than the other, used in
overlapping rows to cover the roofs and sides
of houses (The wind ripped off most of the
shingles on the north side). It also described a
type of hair cut (a shingle-bob) in which the
hair being cut short and unevenly gave the back
of the head the appearance of having been
covered with shingles. It was popular in the
1920’s.
The word has other meanings connected with
this basic meaning. In America shingle is also
a colloquial term to describe a small signboard,
especially that of a professional man (Soon
after he passed his state bar examination,
Johnson hung oat his shingle in the town of
Waterman). To hang out one’s shingle is often
used figuratively for commencing one’s professional
career. In England shingle (perhaps
onomatopoeic and not connected with shingle
except by coincidence of sound) is used a great
deal to describe small, waterwom stones or
pebbles lying in loose sheets or beds on the
seashore, or an extent of such stones or pebbles
(The sea of faith . . . Retreating . . . down the
vast edges dreur/ And nuked shingles of the
world).
Shingle, usually plural shingles, the disease
herpes poster, is a wholly different word.
When shingle means a wedge-shaped piece
of wood, it is a true singular and has a plural
in s, as in one shingle and three shingles.
When shingles means a disease, it has no
singular form shingle. But the plural form shingles
may be treated as a plural or as a singular.
We may say shingles are serious; how long has
he had them? or shingles is serious; how long
has he had it?
Either shingle or shingles may be used in
speaking of the pebbles covering a beach. Both
forms mean exactly the same thing. Both are
mass nouns. Shingles does not mean any more
of the stuff than shingle does. Shingles in this
sense cannot be used with a numeral and shingle
cannot be used with the article u.
ship as a verb means in England to put or take
on board a ship or the like, for transportation.
In America ship means this and in addition may
mean to send or transport by rail, road, or air
(I shipped my trunk to New York by rail; so
it was at the pier when I embarked).
ship; boat; vessel. Vessel is the general term to
describe a craft for traveling on water, now
especially any craft larger than an ordinary
rowboat. Bout is the term for a small craft,
propelled by oars, sails, or other means, which
is not seagoing. Byron, experienced in these
matters, made the proper distinction more than
a century ago: My boat is on the shore,/ And
my bark is on the sea. Boat also describes a
small craft carried for use on the deck of a
large vessel (lifeboat, whaleboat) and is retained
in a number of combinations (such as
ferryboat, gunbout, and Cross-Channel boar).
Then there are some boats with long cruising
radiuses, such as the German WWII E-boats
and Allied motor torpedo bouts. But with such
exceptions, it is a mark of ignorance to call any
ship a bout. A ship is a large vessel or an
airplane.
Ship of State. One of the most hackneyed of
metaphors, the Ship of State has now for over
twenty-five hundred years weathered storms,
remained on an even keel, been threatened with
shipwreck, been becalmed, kept on her course,
been clogged with and cleared of barnacles, impeded
by the remora, shivered her timbers, been
brought or not brought to her desire-d haven in
safety, and otherwise figuratively driven by the
winds of rhetoric. She is the Flying Dutchman
of political oratory and has had more bilge
pumped out of her than all the actual vessels
afloat. But as a trope she is now waterlogged
and should be scuttled.
shipment. See freight.
ships that pass in the night. As a term for people
who meet by chance, find each other interesting
or attractive, but are compelled to part
and go their ways and are not likely to meet
again, ships that pass in the night (taken from
Longfellow) is a good thing overworked.
shirk. This verb may be followed by the -ing
form of a verb, as in she shirks washing the
dishes, but not by an infinitive or by a clause.
shoe. The past tense is shod. The participle is also
shod. A new past tense and participle shoed is
sometimes heard but it is still rare.
shoe. See hoot.
shone. See shine.
shook. See shake.
shoot. The past tense is shot. The participle is also
shot.
shoot one’s bolt. A bolt is an arrow, especially
a short, thick arrow, usually called a quarrel,
shot from a crossbow. The crossbow was more
deadly than the lougbow but it took longer-