SHIN (shinned, shinning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shinned    , shinning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shin mean? 

• SHIN (noun)
  The noun SHIN has 4 senses:

1. the front part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle

2. a cut of meat from the lower part of the leg

3. the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet

4. the inner and thicker of the two bones of the human leg between the knee and ankle

  Familiarity information: SHIN used as a noun is uncommon.

• SHIN (verb)
  The verb SHIN has 1 sense:

1. climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

  Familiarity information: SHIN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The front part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("shin" is a kind of...):

body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

Holonyms ("shin" is a part of...):

leg (a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cut of meat from the lower part of the leg

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

shin; shin bone

Hypernyms ("shin" is a kind of...):

cut; cut of meat (a piece of meat that has been cut from an animal carcass)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("shin" is a kind of...):

alphabetic character; letter; letter of the alphabet (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

Holonyms ("shin" is a part of...):

Hebraic alphabet; Hebrew alphabet; Hebrew script (a Semitic alphabet used since the 5th century BC for writing the Hebrew language (and later for writing Yiddish and Ladino))

Sense 4

Meaning:

The inner and thicker of the two bones of the human leg between the knee and ankle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

shin; shin bone; shinbone; tibia

Hypernyms ("shin" is a kind of...):

leg bone (a bone of the leg)

Holonyms ("shin" is a part of...):

leg (a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle)

• SHIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shin    ... he / she / it shins   
Past simple: shinned   
Past participle: shinned   
-ing form: shinning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

clamber; scramble; shin; shinny; skin; sputter; struggle

Hypernyms (to "shin" is one way to...):

climb (move with difficulty, by grasping)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

Then he threw himself down into the chair opposite, and drew up his knees until his fingers clasped round his long, thin shins.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Most interesting," said Summerlee, bending over my shin.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I likewise broke my right shin against the shell of a snail, which I happened to stumble over, as I was walking alone and thinking on poor England.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The oil rendered from the shin bones and feet of cattle.

(Neatsfoot Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

I believe the silly fellows must have thought they would break their shins over treasure as soon as they were landed, for they all came out of their sulks in a moment and gave a cheer that started the echo in a faraway hill and sent the birds once more flying and squalling round the anchorage.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

This threat was so palpably disregarded, that though within five minutes afterwards the three boys all burst into the room together and sat down, Fanny could not consider it as a proof of anything more than their being for the time thoroughly fagged, which their hot faces and panting breaths seemed to prove, especially as they were still kicking each other's shins, and hallooing out at sudden starts immediately under their father's eye.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

On the contrary, it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now and then I encountered a check, and once I had to shin up a creeper for eight or ten feet, but I made excellent progress, and the booming of Challenger's voice seemed to be a great distance beneath me.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)