shack up

verb

To live together, especially of an unmarried couple.

Similar
cohabitlive together
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Meanings

verbshack up (third-person singular simple present shacks up, present participle shacking up, simple past and past participle shacked up)

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

  1. colloquialTo live together, especially of an unmarried couple.

    So I don't believe in alimony, okay, love? / Though I think we'd ought to / Shack up baby, shack up

    1980, “Shack Up”, performed by A Certain Ratio
    2 more examples

    The only thing I want to do after the war is marry some girl who's got more money than I have and shack up with lots more pretty girls.

    1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 173

    The other rumor flying around thicker 'n flies on a three-day-old carcass is that new redheaded cook, Rory, is shacked up with you.

    2011, Pamela Toth, The Mail-Order Mix-Up

Synonyms & antonyms

verbshare living quarters; usually said of people who are not married and live together as a couple

Similar
cohabitlive together
Broader
populatedwelllive
Also see
cohabitlive together

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 姘居
  • 姘居 (pīnjū)to live together, especially when unmarried
Czech žít na hromádce
  • žít na hromádceto live together, especially when unmarried
German in wilder Ehe leben, (mit jemandem) zusammenziehen
  • in wilder Ehe lebento live together, especially when unmarried
  • (mit jemandem) zusammenziehento live together, especially when unmarried
Greek σπιτώνω
  • σπιτώνω (spitóno)to live together, especially when unmarried
Italian convivere, coabitare
  • convivereto live together, especially when unmarried
  • coabitareto live together, especially when unmarried
Polish żyć na kocią łapę
  • żyć na kocią łapęto live together, especially when unmarried
Russian сожи́тельствовать
  • сожи́тельствовать (sožítelʹstvovatʹ)to live together, especially when unmarried
Spanish arrejuntarse, amancebarse
  • arrejuntarseto live together, especially when unmarried
  • amancebarseto live together, especially when unmarried
Cite this entry
APA

shack up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shack%20up

MLA

“shack up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shack%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shack up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shack%20up.

Source: shack up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.