shanty
/ˈʃænti/
shanty noun: a roughly-built hut or cabin.
Noun (1)
shanty (plural shanties)
- 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
- He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused or abandoned.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 428
- 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
- A few governments recognise the shanties as a form of self-help housing that places very little burden upon government funds. Such governments sometimes encourage shanty development by providing water, electricity and garbage collection services.2005, Stephen Codrington, Planet Geography, page 481
- 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
Adjective (1)
shanty (not comparable)
- Living in shanties; poor, ill-mannered and violent.
- That neighborhood is full of shanty Irishmen.
- The Irish of the middle class were trying to live down the opprobrium derived from the brawling, hard-drinking, and raffish manners of the “shanty Irish” of an earlier generation. The shanty Irish might in some instances have been the individual′s own grandmother who did, indeed, smoke a clay pipe...1963, William V. Shannon, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
Verb
shanty (third-person singular simple present shanties, present participle shantying, simple past and past participle shantied)
- To inhabit a shanty.
- we came down the Alleghany in two canoes , and shantied on the Ohio1857, Samuel H. Hammond, Wild Northern Scenes; Or, Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod
Noun (2)
shanty (plural shanties)
- 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
- Today, shanties are a special feature of the folk music movement. The first International Shanty Festival, Shanty ′87, was held in 1987 in Krakow, Poland, with Stan Hugill, the “godfather of the shanty,” in attendance (see Folk Roots, September 1987, No. 51, “Hugill-Mania! Stan Hugill Godfather of...1997, Jan Ling, A History of European Folk Music, page 41
- Synonyms:
- sea shanty
Adjective (2)
shanty (comparative more shanty, superlative most shanty)
shanty meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tagalog
shanty in Tamil
- குச்சு, சேரிக்குடிசை
shanty in Malayalam
- hut, shack, cabin
- ചെറ്റക്കുടിൽ, തട്ടിക്കൂട്ടിയ വാസസ്ഥലം, കുടിൽ, ചാള, ചെറ്റപ്പുര, ചറ്റപ്പുര
shanty in Kannada
- ಗುಡಿಸಲು, ಜೋಪಡಿ, ಕುಟೀರ
shanty in Tagalog
- An old run-down house or shack
- palirong
- a sailor's work song
- halukya
Examples of shanty in a sentence
- Shanties are the most interesting and original of early housing in the Adirondacks.[…]Bark for roofs and even walls on occasion seems to be an attribute of the shanty.2000, Craig A. Gilborn, Adirondack Camps: Homes Away from Home, 1850-1950, page 51:
- In the hard times of the 1930s, shanty boats along the Ohio River′s banks were home to many families, who felt fortunate to have a roof over their heads even if it was not on dry land.2009, James E. Casto, The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937, page 83:
- The Irish of the middle class were trying to live down the opprobrium derived from the brawling, hard-drinking, and raffish manners of the “shanty Irish” of an earlier generation.1963, William V. Shannon, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
- Stan Hugill Godfather of the Shanty Mafia, Goes to Poland,” p.33ff.).1997, Jan Ling, A History of European Folk Music, page 41:
Synonyms of shanty
Forms of shanty
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shanties |
| alternative form | shantey |
| alternative form | chanty |
| alternative form | chantey |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shanties |
| present participle | shantying |
| past participle | shantied |
| past | shantied |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more shanty |
| superlative | most shanty |
Origin of shanty
From Canadian French chantier (“lumberjack's headquarters”). An alternative theory that the word derives from Irish seantí (meaning "old house") is not considered likely by lexicologists. * (unlicensed pub): New Zealand from 1848.
From French chantez, imperative of chanter (“to sing”).
Words formed from shanty
Phrases with shanty
Words that rhyme with shanty
Questions about shanty
- What does shanty mean?
- Shanty means a roughly-built hut or cabin.
- What is shanty in Tamil?
- Shanty in Tamil is குச்சு, சேரிக்குடிசை. See Shanty meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use shanty in a sentence?
- Shanties are the most interesting and original of early housing in the Adirondacks.[…]Bark for roofs and even walls on occasion seems to be an attribute of the shanty.
- What part of speech is shanty?
- Shanty can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce shanty?
- Shanty is pronounced /ˈʃænti/.
- What is the plural of shanty?
- The plural of shanty is shanties.
Words near shanty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shanty (page history and authors); shanty (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shanty (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); shanty (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-shanty.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shanty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shanty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.