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shying

noun

The act of one who shies or turns aside in fear.

OriginEnglish shy ← Middle English shy →

UncommonScrabble 13

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Meanings

verb

gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of shy

nounshying (plural shyings)

plural shyings

The act of one who shies or turns aside in fear.
Not that there is anything really inexplicable in these odd directions of childish fear, any more than in the unpredictable shyings of the horse.
1895 July, Popular Science, volume 47, number 24, page 342

Origin

Middle Englishshy
Englishshy
Englishshying

From shy + -ing.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with shying

trying buying flying applying dying lying crying drying denying spying tying complying implying frying dyeing defying vying undying prying sighing plying scrying decrying retrying

Cite this entry

APA

shying. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shying

MLA

“shying.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shying. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shying,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shying.

Source: shying on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.