Shack up
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Verb phrases
3.
shack up, Slang.
a.
to live together as spouses without being legally married.
b.
to have illicit sexual relations.
c.
to live in a shack: He's shacked up in the mountains.
Origin:
1875–80, Americanism; compare earlier shackly rickety, probably akin to ramshackle (Mexican Spanish jacal “hut” is a phonetically impossible source)
1875–80, Americanism; compare earlier shackly rickety, probably akin to ramshackle (Mexican Spanish jacal “hut” is a phonetically impossible source)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To shack up
Collins
World English Dictionary
shack1 (ʃæk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a roughly built hut |
| 2. | (South African) temporary accommodation put together by squatters |
| —vb | |
| 3. | See shack up |
| [C19: perhaps from dialect shackly ramshackle, from dialect shack to shake] | |
00:10
Shack up
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| shack2 (ʃæk) | |
| —vb | |
| dialect (Midland English) to evade (work or responsibility) | |
| shack up | |
| —vb (usually foll by with) | |
| slang to live or take up residence, esp with a mistress or lover | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
shack
1878, Amer.Eng. and Canadian Eng., of unknown origin, perhaps from Mex.Sp. jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli "wooden hut." Or perhaps a back-formation from dial. Eng. shackly "shaky, rickety" (1843), a derivative of shack, a dial. variant of shake (q.v.). Another theory derives
shack from ramshackle. Slang verb phrase shack up "cohabit" first recorded 1935 (in Zora Neale Hurston).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
shack up (with (so) definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
shack up
-
Sleep together or live in sexual intimacy without being married. For example, They had been dating for two months and then decided to shack up. [Slang; first half of 1900s]
-
Stay or reside with, as in I'm shacking up with my cousin till I find a place of my own. [Slang; first half of 1900s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Nearby Words
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