Contextualizebeta

shifty

adj
/ˈʃɪfti/

Etymology

From shift + -y.

  1. derived from *skey-✻ — “to cut, divide, separate, part”
  2. derived from *skeyb-✻ — “to separate, divide, part”
  3. inherited from *skiftijaną✻
  4. inherited from sċiftan — “to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”
  5. inherited from schiften
  6. inherited from schyft
  7. suffixed as shifty — “shift + y”

Definitions

  1. Subject to frequent changes in direction.

    • Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.
    • The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.

  2. Moving from one object to another

    Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.

    • His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily.
    • He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.

  3. Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable.

    • He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
    • ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […]’
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Resourceful

      Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.

      • Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for shifty. 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