Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

(Amelia) #1

sharpien. a clever operator; a clever per-
son. She’s a real sharpie. She’ll take you
for everything you’ve got. A young
sharpie in the first row got the answer right
away.


shavetv. to reduce or lessen something. 
They shaved the waiting time to six
months. The coach thought that the
other team was shaving points, so he com-
plained the next day.


shavedmod. alcohol intoxicated. I feel
a tad shaved. So what if I’m a bit
shaved? I shtill have all my shenses.


shavetailn. a second lieutenant; a non-
commissioned officer in the army; any
inexperienced person. (Military. From a
nickname for an untrained mule that is
marked by a shaved tail.) This shave-
tail here is trying to tell me my job. 
Who’s the shavetail dancing with the
Colonel’s daughter?


Shazzam![S@”zAm] exclam. Wow!; Would
you believe? And there was my ring—
Shazzam!—right on the sidewalk! Shaz-
zam! I passed the test!


sheen[Sin] n. a car. (From machine.) Yo u
have one fine sheen there. I have to get
my sheen’s oil changed today.


sheepskinn. a high school or college
diploma. When you get that sheepskin
on the wall, you’ll feel like it was all worth
something. Where is your sheepskin
from?


Sheesh![SiS] exclam. Damn!; Shit!(A eu-
phemism for Shit!) Sheesh! What a
mess! Sheesh! I’m getting out of here!


sheetGo to (rap) sheet.


shekels[“SEklz] n. dollars; money. Yo u
got a few shekels you can spare? These
things cost plenty of shekels.


shellack[S@”lAk] tv. to beat someone; to
outscore someone. (See also shellacked;
shellacking.) We’re gonna shellack those
bums Friday night. We’ll be shellacking
every team in the league this year.


shellacked 1. mod. beaten; outscored. 
They were shellacked, and they knew it. 
The team got shellacked in last week’s


game. 2. mod. alcohol intoxicated; over-
come by booze. Ernie was so shellacked
he couldn’t see. How did he get so shel-
lacked? I didn’t see him drink anything.
shellackingn. a beating. We gave them
a shellacking they’ll never forget. Our
team took a real shellacking.
shell an amount of money outGo to
shell out (an amount of money).
shell out (an amount of money) and
shell an amount of money outtv. & in.
to spend a certain amount of money. 
I’m not going to shell $400 out for that! 
Come on. You owe me. Shell out!
Sherlock 1. n. <a term of address for
someone who is clever or perceptive.>
(Often sarcastic. Based on the name of
fictional detective.) Brilliant deduction,
Sherlock. I never would have guessed! 2. n.
one’s pal or buddy. (A play on holmes or
Sherlock Holmes.) Come on, Sherlock,
let’s go! What’s happening, Sherlock?
shicker[“SIk#] 1. and schicker; schick-
ered[“SIk#d] mod. alcohol intoxicated.
(From Hebrew shiqorvia Yiddish.) It
took her about ten minutes to get schicker
and three days to get sober. He’s schick-
ered, and he’s not going anywhere tonight.


  1. n. liquor; beer. Fill it up with shicker
    again. How do you know when you’ve
    had enough shicker? 3. in. to tipple; to be-
    come alcohol intoxicated. I’m gonna go
    out and shicker till I’m silly. Fred is
    shickering again this weekend.
    shieldn. a police officer’s badge. The
    fuzz f lashed his shield, and I knew the
    game was over. If you’re a cop, where’s
    your shield?
    shill[SIl] 1. n. someone planted in the
    crowd to urge others to buy something,
    participate in something, etc. The guy’s
    a shill! Don’t fall for this setup! There
    were more shills than suckers on the mid-
    way that day. 2. in. to advertise for some-
    thing; to give a sales pitch for something.
    Four stars of an old television show were
    there shilling for a major computer firm.
    They pay them a mint to shill like that.
    shindig [“SIndIg] n. a party; a dance.
    (Folksy.) What a fancy shindig! They


shindig
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