shanghaiing

Verb (1)

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied or shanghai'd)

1. (transitive) 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'
2. (transitive) 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
3. (US, slang, transitive) To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.
4. (US, slang, transitive) 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"
5. (transitive) 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.

Verb (2)

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) To hit with a slingshot.

See all 13 meanings of shanghai