- shy
- [[t]ʃa͟ɪ[/t]]
shyer, shyest, shies, shying, shied1) ADJ-GRADED A shy person is nervous and uncomfortable in the company of other people.
She was a shy, quiet-spoken girl...
She was a shy and retiring person off-stage...
He is painfully shy of women.
Derived words:shyness N-UNCOUNTEventually he overcame his shyness.
2) ADJ-GRADED: oft ADJ of -ing If you are shy of doing something, you are unwilling to do it because you are afraid of what might happen.You should not be shy of having your say in the running of the school.
3) VERB When a horse shies, it moves away suddenly, because something has frightened it.Llewelyn's stallion shied as the wind sent sparks flying.
4) PHRASE You say `once bitten, twice shy' when you want to indicate that someone will not do something a second time because they had a bad experience the first time they did it.5) PHRASE: V inflects If you fight shy of something, you try very hard to avoid it.It is no use fighting shy of publicity and then complaining when sponsors pass us by...
Until now television had fought shy of covering by-elections.
6) PHR-PREP A number or amount that is just shy of another number or amount is just under it....a high-school dropout rate just shy of 53%...
He died two days shy of his 95th birthday.
Phrasal Verbs:Syn:short of
English dictionary. 2008.
