shack

¹ American  

[shak] / ʃæk /

noun

1. a rough cabin; shanty.

2. Informal. radio shack.

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verb phrase

1. shack up

   1. to live together as spouses without being legally married.

   2. to have illicit sexual relations.

   3. to live in a shack.

      He's shacked up in the mountains.

shack ² American  

[shak] / ʃæk /

verb (used with object)

Informal.

1. to chase and throw back; to retrieve.

   to shack a ground ball.

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shack ¹ British  

/ ʃæk /

noun

1. a roughly built hut

2. temporary accommodation put together by squatters

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verb

1. See shack up

shack ² British  

/ ʃæk /

verb

1. dialect to evade (work or responsibility)

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Etymology

Origin of shack¹

1875–80, compare earlier shackly rickety, probably akin to ramshackle ( Mexican Spanish jacal “hut” is a phonetically impossible source)

Origin of shack²

1825–35, apparently special use of dial. shack to shake

Example Sentences

It was a tiny one-room shack wedged into the crotch of a maple, with firm boards nailed into the trunk as a ladder.

From Literature

I pocket his money and walk away from them, letting my nose lead me to the sugar shack while I rub furiously at the mocking smiles, try to make them and what they represent disappear.

From Literature

The steps wound up and up—so far up that he was certain they’d gone much higher than the shack’s two stories.

From Literature

Brown himself recently met Fisher brothers Bob and Bill for lunch at his usual seafood shack, Sam’s Grill, to discuss the state of the city.

From The Wall Street Journal

It might be some remote barn or shepherd’s hut or forester’s shack—it didn’t matter.

From Literature

Related Words

• cabin
• cottage
• hut
• lean-to
• shed
• shelter