Reference  |  Webster's Dictionary  |  S  |  Sharp-cut to Shear

S — Sharp-cut to Shear (Part 4 of 6)

2. One who is close in bargains; a sharper. Swift.

3. One who fleeces; a pillager; a plunderer.

By these shavers the Turks were stripped.
Knolles.

4. A boy; a lad; a little fellow. [Colloq.] "These unlucky little shavers." Salmagundi.

As I have mentioned at the door to this young shaver, I am on a chase in the name of the king.
Dickens.

5. (Mech.) A tool or machine for shaving.

A note shaver, a person who buys notes at a discount greater than the legal rate of interest. [Cant, U.S.]

Shaving
(Shav"ing), n.

1. The act of one who, or that which, shaves; specifically, the act of cutting off the beard with a razor.

2. That which is shaved off; a thin slice or strip pared off with a shave, a knife, a plane, or other cutting instrument. "Shaving of silver." Chaucer.

Shaving brush, a brush used in lathering the face preparatory to shaving it.

Shaw
(Shaw) n. [OE. schawe, scha&yoghe, thicket, grove, AS. scaga; akin to Dan. skov, Sw. skog, Icel. skogr.]

1. A thicket; a small wood or grove. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Burns.

Gaillard he was as goldfinch in the shaw.
Chaucer.
The green shaws, the merry green woods.
Howitt.

2. pl. The leaves and tops of vegetables, as of potatoes, turnips, etc. [Scot.] Jamieson.

Shawfowl
(Shaw"fowl`), n. [Scot. schaw, shaw, show + fowl.] The representation or image of a fowl made by fowlers to shoot at. Johnson.

Shawl
(Shawl) n. [Per. & Hind. shal: cf. F. châle.] A square or oblong cloth of wool, cotton, silk, or other textile or netted fabric, used, especially by women, as a loose covering for the neck and shoulders.

India shawl, a kind of rich shawl made in India from the wool of the Cashmere goat. It is woven in pieces, which are sewed together. — Shawl goat (Zoöl.), the Cashmere goat.

Shawl
(Shawl), v. t. To wrap in a shawl. Thackeray.

Shawm
(Shawm) n. [OE. shalmie, OF. chalemie; cf. F. chalumeau shawm, chaume haulm, stalk; all fr. L. calamus a reed, reed pipe. See Haulm, and cf. Calumet.] (Mus.) A wind instrument of music, formerly in use, supposed to have resembled either the clarinet or the hautboy in form. [Written also shalm, shaum.] Otway.

Even from the shrillest shaum unto the cornamute.
Drayton.

Shawnees
(Shaw`nees") n. pl.; sing. Shawnee (Ethnol.) A tribe of North American Indians who occupied Western New York and part of Ohio, but were driven away and widely dispersed by the Iroquois.

Shay
(Shay) n. A chaise. [Prov. Eng. & Local, U.S.]