shanghai
Syllables: Shang·hai/ʃæŋˈhaɪ//ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/
shanghai verb: to force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly.
Verb (1)
shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied or shanghai'd)
- To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly
- Oftentimes the approach is to shanghai an unsuspecting victim.1974 September 30, ‘Final Report on the Activities of the Children of God'
- Their power had a flaw to it. They could be shanghaied in toilets.1985, Margaret Atwood, “Birth Day”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, page 143
- To press-gang sailors, especially (historical) for shipping or fishing work.
- By this time I hadn't much doubt of the nature of the trap and the identity of the trapping vessel. The faint smell of alcohol in the forehold told the story. I had been sandbagged and taken aboard a bootlegging craft, shanghaied in good old-fashioned style; and the vessel was probably now on its...1923, Francis Lynde, chapter 2, in Somewhere in the Caribbean
- Peter Edwards was bragging all around the little port about his boy, shanghaied off to sea on his first voyage and coming home skipper of a bung-full spouter.1930, Captain Dingle, “In Conclusion” (chapter 34), in Seaworthy, Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 270
- To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.
- To transfer a serviceman against their will.
- “Why, if you so loved and cherished the armed guard,” Captain Banning continued, “did you arrange for transfer?”
“I never, sir! ... But he shanghaied me out of the armed guard pronto.”Eugene Cunningham, "A One-Man Navy" - There was a urologist for his urine, a lymphologist for his lymph, an endocrinologist for his endocrines, a psychologist for his psyche, a dermatologist for his derma; there was a pathologist for his pathos, a cystologist for his cysts, and a bald and pedantic cetologist from the zoology department...Joseph Heller, Catch-22
- “Why, if you so loved and cherished the armed guard,” Captain Banning continued, “did you arrange for transfer?”
- To commandeer, hijack, or otherwise (usually wrongfully) appropriate a place or thing.
- Let's see if we can shanghai a room for a couple of hours.
Noun (1)
shanghai (plural shanghais)
- A breed of chicken with large bodies, long legs, and feathered shanks.
- Cochins or Shanghaes.1853, W.B. Tegetmeier, Profitable Poultry, page 19
- A kind of daub.
- The ‘shanghai’ is the glaring daub required by some frame-makers for cheap auctions. They are turned out at so much by the day's labor, or at from $12 to $24 a dozen, by the piece.1880 Jan., Scribner's Monthly, p. 365
- A tall dandy.
- A kind of dart game in which players are gradually eliminated ("shanghaied"), usually either by failing to reach a certain score in 3 quick throws or during a competition to hit a certain prechosen number and then be the first to hit the prechosen numbers of the other players.
- ‘Shanghai’ may be played by teams of 8, in pairs, individually, or, in fact, any number.1930, Anchor Magazine, page 196
- The hot twenty—including local favourites George Simmons, Tony Brown, Mick Norris and Lew Walker—have to sweat through nineteen 501s, one 1,001, one 2,001, one round-the-board-on-doubles, one shanghai and one halve-it.1977 May 10, Daily Mirror, p. 30
Noun (2)
shanghai (plural shanghais)
- Synonym of slingshot.
- Turn, turn thy shang~hay dread aside,
Nor touch that little bird1863 Oct. 24, Leader, p. 17 - ‘Terry Madison. Instead of fiddling with that shanghai, give us a thought.’ ‘It’s a gongai,’ Swiftie said. ‘I mean that’s the name for a shanghai which is another name for a catapult...that Mr Delarue calls a slingshot.’1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 61
- Synonyms:
- slingshot
- Turn, turn thy shang~hay dread aside,
Verb (2)
shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied)
Proper noun capitalized: Shanghai
Shanghai
- A major port city and direct-administered municipality of China, the largest urban area in China.
- SHANGHAI (the emporium of Nanking) is the first town of any importance on the coast of Kiangnan province.[…]If, however, these difficulties were surmounted, and suitable precautions taken against existing dangers, the embouchure of this river would be one of the most eligible points for the...
- The city of Shanghai is built on the left bank, some distance from the mouth. It is laid out with sufficient elegance, and numerous temples.1840 September 12, “IX.—From Shanghai to Pekin.”, in The Penny Magazine, number 542, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, →OCLC, page 358, column 2
- Synonyms:
- Paris of the East
- A major international port including the eastern coast of Shanghai Municipality and the northeastern islands of Zhejiang Province.
Noun (3) capitalized: Shanghai
Shanghai (plural Shanghais)
shanghai meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shanghai in Hindi
- शंघाईंग, शंघाइंग, शंघाई
shanghai in Tamil
- ஷாங்காயிங், ஷாங்காய்ங், ஷங்காயிங்
shanghai in Marathi
- शंघाईंग, शंघाइंग, शांगाईंग
shanghai in Urdu
- شانگھائینگ, شانگھائی, سانگھائی
More languagesFewer languages
- shanghai in Bengali
- সাংহাইং, সাংহাইয়িং, সাংহাই
- shanghai in Telugu
- షాంఘైంగ్, షాంగాయింగ్, షాంఘైకి
- shanghai in Malayalam
- ഷാങ്ഹായിംഗ്, ഷാങ്ഹായിങ്, ഷാങ്ഹായ്ങ്
- shanghai in Kannada
- ಶಾಂಘೈಂಗ್, ಶಂಘಾಯಿಂಗ್, ಶಂಘೈಂಗ್
- shanghai in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ੰਘਾਈ, ਸ਼ੰਘਾਈਂਗ, ਸ਼ੰਘਾਈੰਗ
- shanghai in Gujarati
- શંઘાઇંગ, શંઘાઈંગ, શાંઘાઈંગ
- shanghai in Odia
- ସାଙ୍ଘାଇଙ୍ଗ, ସାଂଘାଇଙ୍ଗ, ସାଙ୍ଘାଇଙ୍ଗ୍
- shanghai in Nepali
- साङ्घाइङ, साङहाइङ, साङ्घाईलाई
Examples of shanghai in a sentence
- I've been shanghaied by a darn splinter!'1995, Sega Multimedia Studio, Wild Woody, Sega:
- He argues that he is not a free rider on a bus headed for a destination that he wishes to reach but is more like a person shanghaied for an unwanted voyage.2018 Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448
- I had been sandbagged and taken aboard a bootlegging craft, shanghaied in good old-fashioned style; and the vessel was probably now on its way to the Bahamas for a cargo of spirits.1923, Francis Lynde, chapter 2, in Somewhere in the Caribbean:
- They scrounged around the camp […] and held out their filthy wings to the feeble sun, making themselves an easy target for Charles's shanghai.1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 206:
Synonyms of shanghai
Forms of shanghai
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shanghais |
| present participle | shanghaiing |
| past participle | shanghaied |
| past | shanghaied |
| past participle | shanghai'd |
| past | shanghai'd |
| alternative form | shanghae |
| alternative form | shangeye |
| Noun | |
| plural | shanghais |
| plural | Shanghais |
| Proper noun | |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Shang-hai |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Shanghae |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Shang-hae |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Shanhae |
| alternative form (obsolete) | Chang-hai |
Origin of shanghai
1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.
From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.
c. 1840, likely from an English-derived romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of Chinese 上海 (Shànghǎi), reinforced by Wade–Giles, Postal Romanization, and Hanyu Pinyin.
Words formed from shanghai
Phrases with shanghai
Words that rhyme with shanghai
Questions about shanghai
- What does shanghai mean?
- Shanghai means to force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly.
- What is shanghai in Hindi?
- Shanghai in Hindi is शंघाईंग, शंघाइंग, शंघाई. See Shanghai meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use shanghai in a sentence?
- I've been shanghaied by a darn splinter!'
- What part of speech is shanghai?
- Shanghai can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shanghai?
- Shanghai is pronounced /ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/ (US).
- What is the past tense of shanghai?
- The past tense of shanghai is shanghaied.
Words near shanghai in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shanghai (page history and authors); Shanghai (page history and authors); shanghai (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shanghai (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Shanghai.wav, en-us-shanghai.ogg, en-au-shanghai.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shanghai.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shanghai. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.