shinny

¹ American  

[shin-ee] / ˈʃɪn i /

noun

shinnies plural

1. a simple variety of hockey, played with a ball, block of wood, or the like, and clubs curved at one end.

2. the club used.

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verb (used without object)

shinnied, shinnying

1. to play shinny.

2. to drive the ball at shinny.

shinny ² American  

[shin-ee] / ˈʃɪn i /

verb (used without object)

shinnied, shinnying

1. shin.

   He shinnied up the tree.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• shinnies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of shinny¹

First recorded in 1665–75; variant of shin ye, cry used in the game

Origin of shinny²

1850–55, apparently derivative of shin ¹; source of -y is unclear

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shinny shinnies shinnied shinnying

For the climbing task, the winning design evolved two arms and two legs that help it shinny up a shaft like an ape.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 10, 2021

It’s not easy to practice in summer skates that are more like shinny than postseason hockey, but McDavid has taken it upon himself to try.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2021

In Oshie’s first year at Warroad, Eades remembered, he was the ringleader of the team that loved to play shinny hockey.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2021

Celestial shinny games just got a lot more rugged.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2019

In my mind I would shinny up one of those columns and then work my way from rafter to rafter, figuring out how to make my next move, seeing how far I could get.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz

Zacchaeus shinnies down the tree and repents, saying that that he will repay anyone he has defrauded “four times as much.”

From Time ● Oct. 12, 2015

In Iron Men he shinnies up a vertical girder, using only his hands and his knees.

From Time Magazine Archive

Rani shinnies down the tree and lands beside me.

From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman

Instead, she finds a tree behind the building and shinnies up as I watch from below, holding jay's cage.

From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman

“Jo says Mrs. Merlin shinnies on her own side,” added Billy.

From Penny of Top Hill Trail by Lyford, Philip

That same day, the Associated Press reported, the male raccoon shinnied up a tall tree on the White House lawn, and, like Rebecca, would not come down.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 2019

As police later reconstructed it, Mark Willey had shinnied up the tree with his rifle slung over his back.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2019

Fans shinnied up a traffic-light post outside the luxury hotel where the Lakers stayed, hoping to get a glimpse of Kobe Bryant boarding the team bus among dozens and dozens of cordoned-off people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2015

Bowdoin College remembers Donald MacMillan as the member of '98 who shinnied up the lightning rod on King's Chapel spire to tear clown a flag that had been hoisted in derision of his class.

From Time Magazine Archive

So quiet you could hear the water running far below the sewer grates while the sun shinnied up the rainspouts.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

And Gittens Anglaise, 43, of Colihaut, related tales of leaping from a window and shinnying across the water along electrical wires "like Rambo".

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2015

He can break down an illegally locked door or gingerly reposition a ruffled curtain and devotional votives after shinnying out a tenant’s eighth-floor window to check a leak.

From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2011

In the year of the census, Montana's grizzly bears are standing up -- or, rather, shinnying up against trees -- to be counted.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2010

They use electrical wires and cables to travel between units, experts said, adding that they’re also adept at shinnying up from sewers, through pipes and up into toilets.

From Washington Post

“Only one way to find out,” Ruthanne answered, already shinnying down the rope ladder.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool