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Shifty Meaning



Looking dishonest. Words used to describe dishonest people and behaviour. Explore Thesaurus. Definition and synonyms of shifty from the online English dictionary from Macmillan Education. Qip for mac os. Definition of shifty-looking in the Idioms Dictionary. Shifty-looking phrase. What does shifty-looking expression mean? Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Openoffice for mac. shift +‎ -y

Shifty Meaning

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃɪfti/

Adjective[edit]

Shifty Meaning In Marathi

Portable adobe photoshop for mac. shifty (comparativeshiftier, superlativeshiftiest)

Shifty Meaning In English

  1. Subject to frequent changes in direction.
    • 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,[2]
      Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.
    • 2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, Chapter 17, p. 190,[3]
      The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.
  2. (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another, not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
    • 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761,[4]
      […] his quick, shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr. Thickens’s back.
    • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar” in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, 1928, p. 149,[5]
      His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily.
    • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10,[6]
      He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.
  3. Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal or unreliable.
    He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
    • 1999, J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, New York: Viking, Chapter 23, p. 208,[7]
      ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […]’
  4. Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.[1]
    • 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,[8]
      Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Shifty

Shifty Meaning In Hindi

Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable
  • Danish: skummel
  • Finnish: epäluotettavanoloinen
  • French: louche(fr), fuyant(fr)
  • Greek: πονηρός(el)m(ponirós), πανούργος(el)m(panoúrgos)
    Ancient: πολύτροπος(polútropos)
  • Italian: sfuggente(it), ambiguo(it), equivoco(it)
  • Swedish: lömsk(sv), skum(sv)
  • Greek:
    Ancient: πολύτροπος(polútropos)
  • Italian: sfuggevole, volubile(it), mutevole(it)

References[edit]

Shift meaning spanish
  1. ^ Thomas Wright, Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, London: Henry G. Bohn, Volume 2, p. 848: “Cunning; artful” (Craven [Yorkshire]).[1]

Shifty Meaning Urban Dictionary

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