shapeup

Noun

shapeup (plural shapeups)

1. (slang) a gathering of labourers, where employers hire them for day jobs.
   • Even with all that prosperity there were bindle stiffs who didn't do so good: so he and the others dropped into a saloon, got a hundred bucks worth of small change, stepped back into the cab, drove over by the shapeup, that's what they said it was, a shapeup, and they threw money to the guys...1974, Earl Conrad, Club, page 125
   • Then I got work as a janitor. They had shapeups, like on the waterfront.1982, Patricia Cayo Sexton, The New Nightingales, page 95
2. (broadly) A regular meeting by a criminal organization in which jobs are assigned.
   • Worse, he required his men to attend weekly shapeups at his social club on a busy street in lower Manhattan.2002, Gene Mustain, Jerry Capeci, Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti, page xiii
3. A session or routine in which someone or something is repaired or put into better shape.
   • Before we began our weekend shapeup, the car looked like this: scratches and dents, broken trim, and a finish that was strictly dullsville.1979, Bodywork & Painting, page 15
   • Here are best bets, from shapeups with time for pampering to rugged outdoor fun .1996, R. Alan Fox, 500 Best USA Vacations, page 88
4. A hairstyle that involves cutting along the natural hairline to straighten it.
   • Even those who still came to the shop came only for shapeups.2013, Quincy T. Mills, Cutting Along the Color Line, page 239
   • His mom didn't do too bad of a job when she did give him the shapeups, but don't say that in Sam's shop because only men such as Sam and his crew can cut hair as good as them in that town.2014, Michelle N. Gibbs, Zion
5. An overview or outline of the major layout and shape of something.
   • Shapeup (SU) does a high-level outline, or shapeup, of a newspaper edition, including how many sections are in the edition, what the sections contain, and so on.1990, Daniel Gonneau, Data Network Design Strategies, page 262
   • The method of estimation of a transmitter effective antenna height depends on the type of propagationpath (land, sea), the length for land paths (below or above 15 km) and on the availability of data concerning the terrain shapeup (for the paths shorter than 15 km).2006, Maciej J. Nawrocki, Mischa Dohler, Hamid Aghvami, Understanding UMTS Radio Network, page 98