shack

plural shacks

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, […]

   1913, Robert Barr, chapter 6, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad

   Synonyms: hovel, shanty, camp

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.

   1944 January and February, E. R. McCarter, “The Cairn Valley Light Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 48

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

present singular third person shacks · participle present shacking · participle past shacked · past shacked

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

plural shacks

1. countableobsoleteuncountableGrain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.
2. countableobsoleteuncountableNuts which have fallen to the ground.
3. countableobsoleteuncountableFreedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.

   1996, J M Neeson, Commoners http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0521567742&id=2CqhjjiwLtEC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&sig=3geUREguU3vTYj_05PtAfzFODDA The fields were enclosed by Act in 1791, and Tharp gave the cottagers about thirteen acres for their right of shack.

   1 more example

   […] first comes the case of tenants with a customary right to shack their sheep and cattle who have overburdened the fields with a larger number of beasts than their tenement entitles them to, or who have allowed their beasts to feed in the field out of shack time.

   1918, Christobel Mary Hoare Hood, The History of an East Anglian Soke http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=OCLC11859773&id=rI0iE-yqyAMC&q=%22right+to+shack%22&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Flr%3D%26q%3D%2522right%2Bto%2Bshack%2522&pgis=1

4. UKUScountabledialectalobsoleteuncountableA shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.

   All the poor old shacks about the town found a friend in Deacon Marble.

   1868, Henry Ward Beecher, Norwood, or Village Life in New England

   1 more example

   Some peple hev a fakilty two get along into the world, whilst others air poor shacks & good for nothing.

   1866, Betsey Jane Ward, Book of Goaks

5. countableuncountablefishingBait that can be picked up at sea.
6. NigeriacountableslanguncountableA drink, especially an alcoholic one.

present singular third person shacks · participle present shacking · participle past shacked · past shacked

1. obsoleteTo shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.
2. obsoleteTo feed in stubble, or upon waste.

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

   1867, “Journal of the Royal Agriculatural Socirty”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   1 more example

   […] first comes the case of tenants with a customary right to shack their sheep and cattle who have overburdened the fields with a larger number of beasts than their tenement entitles them to, or who have allowed their beasts to feed in the field out of shack time.

   1918, Christobel Mary Hoare Hood, The History of an East Anglian Soke http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=OCLC11859773&id=rI0iE-yqyAMC&q=%22right+to+shack%22&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Flr%3D%26q%3D%2522right%2Bto%2Bshack%2522&pgis=1

3. UKdialectalTo wander as a vagabond or tramp.
4. USintransitiveTo hibernate; to go into winter quarters.
5. NigeriaslangTo drink, especially alcohol.

comparative more shack · superlative most shack

1. SingaporeSinglishalternativeslangAlternative form of shag (“exhausted; tiring”).

plural Shacks

1. A surname.