Word.ws English Dictionary

shamus

/ˈʃɑːməs/

shamus noun: a private detective; originally, a policeman or police detective.

Noun

shamus (plural shamuses or shami)

  1. (US, slang) A private detective; originally, a policeman or police detective.
    • “That's what you're here for. Didn't your aunt tell you? She wants you to follow Wilbert Cream and Phyllis about everywhere and see that he doesn't get a chance of proposing.”
      “You mean that I'm to be a sort of private eye or shamus, tailing them up? I don't like it,” I said dubiously.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IV

Proper noun capitalized: Shamus

Shamus

  1. (alternative) Alternative spelling of Seamus.

Forms of shamus

pluralshamuses
pluralshami

Origin of shamus

Said to be from the Irish name Séamus, on account of many American police officers being of Irish descent.

Words that rhyme with shamus

Questions about shamus

What does shamus mean?
Shamus means a private detective; originally, a policeman or police detective.
What part of speech is shamus?
Shamus can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce shamus?
Shamus is pronounced /ˈʃɑːməs/.
What is the plural of shamus?
The plural of shamus is shamuses.

Words near shamus in the dictionary

  1. shamsheers
  2. Shamsher Jang
  3. shamshir
  4. shamshirs
  5. shamstep
  6. shamus
  7. shamuses
  8. Shamva
  9. ShamWow
  10. ShamWows
  11. Shamy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shamus (page history and authors); Shamus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “shamus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shamus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.