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shack

noun
/ʃæk/

Etymology

Unknown. Some authorities derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”). Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly. Compare Tavringer Romani hak (“place, house”), Traveller Norwegian hak (“place”).

  1. derived from xacalli
  2. derived from jacal

Definitions

  1. A crude, roughly built hut or cabin.

    • The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks ; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]

  2. Any poorly constructed or poorly furnished building.

    • The stations are generally very poor, even for a branch line; some are mere wooden shacks, and Moniaive itself is one of the least prepossessing terminal stations I have ever seen.

  3. The room from which a ham radio operator transmits.

  4. ›+ 14 more definitions

    1. To live (in or with)

      To live (in or with); to shack up.

    2. Grain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.

    3. Nuts which have fallen to the ground.

    4. Freedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.

    5. A shiftless fellow

      A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.

      • Some peple hev a fakilty two get along into the world, whilst others air poor shacks & good for nothing.
      • All the poor old shacks about the town found a friend in Deacon Marble.

    6. Bait that can be picked up at sea.

    7. A drink, especially an alcoholic one.

    8. To shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.

    9. To feed in stubble, or upon waste.

      • They [turkeys] are then sold‥to the larger farmers to ‘shack’ upon the barley or oat stubbles.

    10. To wander as a vagabond or tramp.

    11. To hibernate

      To hibernate; to go into winter quarters.

    12. To drink, especially alcohol.

    13. Alternative form of shag (“exhausted

      Alternative form of shag (“exhausted; tiring”).

    14. A surname.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for shack. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA