Meanings
shanker1
plural shankers
- One who shanks (in any of various senses).
- One who shanks a golf ball.
Littler said he didn't shank it; rather he called it a soft pop-up, but us old hard-core shankers weren't so generous .
1975, Blackie Sherrod, Scattershooting2 more examples
He said, "Our whole club is full of shankers." […] This club was infested with shankers, as if they all had a disease. […] The danger in hitting down on the ball with such intensity is that you are likely to shank it.
1993, Harvey Penick, Bud Shrake, Edwin Shrake, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend: Further Reflections of a Grown Caddie, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 57And for the next twenty minutes, he shanked every shot. I did everything I could. […] And he still shanked every shot. […] “Sooooo, Butchie's got a shanker and can't get him squared up, huh?” he shouted so loud that ..."
2006, Butch Harmon, The Pro: Lessons from My Father About Golf and Life, Crown, →ISBN - One who glues the shank into a shoe.
I take those metal shanks, slide the backs of them in glue and make them lie down on the shoe-bottoms, […] Last week they ran a contest to see which shankers shanked fastest. I'm not embarrassed to say I beat them all.
1986 March 6, "Factory Work" [Poetry, 147], quoted in 2009, Deborah Boe, The Girl of the Early Race: Poems, Gegensatz Press1 more example
A shank-cutter cuts with a die that part of the shank which is composed of leather or leather board. […] A shanker tacks the shank in place, cuts away the superfluous upper leather gathered under the toe, beats the edge of the upper out […]
1913, Leon Carroll Marshall, Chester Whitney Wright, James Alfred Field, Materials for the Study of Elementary Economics, page 202
shanker2
Shanker3
Origin
Cite this entry
shanker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shanker
“shanker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shanker. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shanker,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shanker.
Source: shanker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.