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

Explanation

A shack is a small, rundown building used as a shelter. To shack is to live somewhere. If you tell your parents you want to shack up with your best friend, prepare to get grounded. A shack is a tiny, crude shelter that one person might be living in. It’s not well maintained, and it probably has peeling paint and a leaky roof. A shack is a big step below a house and a small step above a refrigerator box. To shack is to live somewhere, especially somewhere that's not nice. Shacking up is kind of like crashing on someone’s couch, or living somewhere temporarily.

Example Sentences

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cava Group, Sweetgreen, Shake Shack, and Wingstop have all stumbled at various points, but some have been rising again over the past month.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

It became a viral sensation, spurring countless inspired products from Crumbl Cookies to Shake Shack desserts as well as major chocolate brands like Lindt and Godiva taking their own stab at the pistachio-filled confection.

From Salon • May 6, 2026

“People do come up and say, like, why is the water closed?” said Steven Labella, a manager at the Hotel del Coronado’s Beach and Taco Shack.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

Still, restaurant industry experts said it’s quite likely the enormously popular McRib was on the mind of Shake Shack executives when they came up with their offering.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 29, 2026

“Hidden in the trash” was a reference to the ancient TRS-80 line of computers made by Tandy and Radio Shack in the ’70s and ’80s.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

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