chantey

Noun (1)

shanty (plural shanties)

1. A roughly-built hut or cabin.
   • A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   shack, hovel

2. A rudimentary or improvised dwelling, especially one not legally owned.
   • Shanties along canal banks and road reserves have emerged since independence in 1948 onwards, and consist of unauthorized and improvised shelter without legal rights of occupancy of the land and structures.2003, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, page 208
3. (Australia, New Zealand) An unlicensed pub.
   • The shanty-keeper is not, as a rule, a bachelor.1881, Henry W. Nesfield, A Chequered Career; Or, Fifteen years in Australia and New Zealand, page 351

   Synonyms:

   speakeasy

Noun (2)

shanty (plural shanties)

1. A rhythmic work song, traditionally sung by sailors or stevedores, functioning to set the pace for hauling, turning a capstan, loading, or other such activities.
   • A Scot called Macmillan, a man holding a master's square-rig ticket, gave me a portion of a shanty related in tune to the foregoing, and also to the British Rolling Home.1979, Stan Hugill, Shanties from the Seven Seas: Shipboard Work-songs and Songs Used as Work-songs from the Great Days of Sail, page 192

   Synonyms:

   sea shanty

See all 7 meanings of shanty