shape
pronunciation
How to pronounce shape in British English:
UK [ʃeɪp]
How to pronounce shape in American English:
US [ʃeɪp]
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- Noun:
- any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)
- the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance
- alternative names for the body of a human being
- a concrete representation of an otherwise nebulous concept
- the visual appearance of something or someone
- the state of (good) health (especially in the phrases `in condition' or `in shape' or `out of condition' or `out of shape')
- a perceptual structure
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- Verb:
- shape or influence; give direction to
- make something, usually for a specific function
- give a shape or form to
Word Origin
- shape
- shape: [OE] Shape goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *skap- ‘form, create’, which also produced German schaffen and Swedish skapa ‘create, make’. ‘Create’ seems to have been a secondary meaning of the base, evolving out of an earlier ‘chop or dig out’, which probably gave rise to English scoop.=> scoop
- shape (v.)
- Old English scapan, past participle of scieppan "to create, form, destine" (past tense scop), from Proto-Germanic *skapjanan "create, ordain" (cognates: Old Norse skapa, Danish skabe, Old Saxon scapan, Old Frisian skeppa, Middle Dutch schappen "do, treat," Old High German scaffan, German schaffen "shape, create, produce"), from PIE root *(s)kep- a base forming words meaning "to cut, scrape, hack" (see scabies), which acquired broad technical senses and in Germanic a specific sense of "to create." Old English scieppan survived into Middle English as shippen, but shape emerged as a regular verb (with past tense shaped) by 1500s. The old past participle form shapen survives in misshapen. Middle English shepster (late 14c.) "dressmaker, female cutter-out," is literally "shape-ster," from Old English scieppan. Meaning "to form in the mind" is from late 14c. Phrase Shape up (v.) is literally "to give form to by stiff or solid material;" attested from 1865 as "progress;" from 1938 as "reform;" shape up or ship out is attested from 1956, originally U.S. military slang, with the sense being "do right or get shipped up to active duty."
- shape (n.)
- Old English sceap, gesceap "form; created being, creature; creation; condition; sex, genitalia," from root of shape (v.)). Meaning "contours of the body" is attested from late 14c. Meaning "condition, state" is first recorded 1865, American English. In Middle English, the word in plural also had a sense of "a woman's private parts." Shape-shifter attested from 1820. Out of shape "not in proper shape" is from 1690s. Shapesmith "one who undertakes to improve the form of the body" was used in 1715.
Example
- 1. The cloud changes neither shape nor color .
- 2. There are dangerous signs of a political vacuum taking shape .
- 3. But predicting the shape of the new government is tricky .
- 4. And each of them has its unique shape .
- 5. Social mood and risk appetites shape financial markets .