shoulder

English

Etymology

From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sculdra, sculdor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈʃəʊɫdə/
  • (General American) enPR: shōlʹdər, IPA(key): /ˈʃoʊɫdɚ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊldə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: shoul‧der

Noun

shoulder (plural shoulders)

  1. The part of an animal's body between the base of the neck and forearm socket.
    1. The part of the human torso forming a relatively horizontal surface running away from the neck.
      The parrot was sitting on Steve's shoulder.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 4:
        But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].
      • 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
        With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks. In turn he smiled and also shrugged a shoulder.
    2. (anatomy) The joint between the arm and the torso, sometimes including the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
    3. A cut of meat comprising the upper joint of the foreleg and the surrounding muscle.
      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 20:
        In the firſt Courſe there was a Shoulder of Mutton, cut into an Æquilateral Triangle, a Piece of Beef into a Rhomboides, and a Pudding into a Cycloid.
    4. The portion of a garment where the shoulder is clothed.
  2. Anything forming a shape resembling a human shoulder.
  3. (topography) A shelf between two levels.
    1. A usually unsealed strip of land bordering a road, where vehicles can drive or park in an emergency.
      He stopped the car on the shoulder of the highway to change the flat tire.
      • 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129:
        The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock.
    2. The portion of a hill or mountain just below the peak.
    3. A lateral protrusion of a hill or mountain.
      • 1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:
        I certainly was not prepared for the cosy nestling valleys that snuggled against the shoulders of the hills; a land where the graystone cottages and farmsteads still prevailed, but where they had taken on something of the softness of their kind in Gloucester and the Cotswolds, and seemed almost like growths of the soil; […] .
    4. The angle of a bastion included between the face and flank.
    5. An abrupt projection which forms an abutment on an object, or limits motion, etc., such as the projection around a tenon at the end of a piece of timber.
  4. (printing) The flat portion of type that is below the bevelled portion that joins up with the face.
  5. (of an object) The portion between the neck and the body.
    1. (music) The rounded portion of a stringed instrument where the neck joins the body.
    2. The rounded portion of a bottle where the neck meets the body.
    3. (firearms) The angled section between the neck and the main body of a cartridge.
  6. (figurative) That which supports or sustains; support.
  7. The part of a key between the cuts and the bow.
    Parts of a Yale lock-type key
  8. (surfing) The part of a wave that has not yet broken.
    Synonym: hook
  9. (aviation) A season or a time of day when there is relatively little air traffic.
    Coordinate term: noon balloon
    • 1976, Trade and Industry, volume 25, page 270:
      For a round-trip journey starting from the UK during the shoulder period (1 April-30 June) […]
    • 2003, Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 29 June-3 July 2003), page 184:
      the determination of noise-induced disturbances during the shoulder hours and their consequences for the consecutive sleep period

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations
See shoulder/translations § Noun.

Verb

shoulder (third-person singular simple present shoulders, present participle shouldering, simple past and past participle shouldered)

  1. (transitive) To push (a person or thing) using one's shoulder.
  2. (transitive) To put (something) on one's shoulders.
    • 1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:
      Early in the morning they shouldered light packs, took their rifles, crossed the big draw, and entered the timber where was the deadfall.
    • 2008 June, Men's Health, The World's Simplest Workout‎, volume 23, number 5, page 120:
      Like a power clean, shouldering a sandbag — lifting it from the floor to your shoulder in one explosive movement — requires a coordinated effort from your core, upper body, and legs.
  3. (transitive) To place (something) against one's shoulders.
    • 2004, Chris Christian, Larry Sterett, Rick Sapp, The Gun Digest Book of Trap & Skeet Shooting‎, page 221:
      All three sets are nicely sculptured along the bottom to prevent interference when shouldering your gun with proper shooting form.
  4. (transitive, figuratively) To bear a burden, as a financial obligation.
    • 1950, Colin Arthur Cooke, Corporation, Trust and Company: An Essay in Legal History‎, page 111:
      The shareholders were then shouldering a burden of liability out of proportion to their mere ownership of theoretical fractions of the business.
  5. (transitive, figuratively) To accept responsibility for.
    shoulder the blame
    • 2022 November 15, Hugo Lowell, “Trump to barrel ahead with campaign reveal despite Republican pushback”, in The Guardian‎:
      The former president has been forced to shoulder some of the blame for poor performances in key races, including in Pennsylvania, where his handpicked Republican candidate, Mehmet Oz, lost to Democrat John Fetterman in a contest that allowed Democrats to keep the Senate majority.
    • 2022 December 8, Caroline Davies, quoting Prince Harry, “Prince Harry: royals didn’t understand risk to Meghan of racial attacks”, in The Guardian‎:
      She had a father before this and now she doesn’t have a father. And I shouldered that because if Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad.
  6. (transitive) To form a shape resembling a shoulder.
    • 1977, Roger W. Autor Bolz, Production Processes: The Productivity Handbook‎, page 12-81:
      allowance at the bottom of blind bores for the chamfered tip of the reamer will obviate additional operations with shouldering or bottoming reamers to completely finish the entire length of a hole.
  7. (intransitive) To move by or as if by using one's shoulders.
    • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter I, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 2:
      The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive.
    • 1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Servants of the Queen”, in The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC, page 190:
      […] a yoke of the great sulky white bullocks […] came shouldering along together;
    • 2003, Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad‎, page 304:
      He had seen them in the beer halls, shouldering up to the head of the queues
    • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 502:
      Mr. Wagstaff strolled with me along the wooded arm of land shouldering northwards from Bethlehem Bay.
  8. (transitive) To round and slightly raise the top edges of slate shingles so that they form a tighter fit at the lower edge and can be swung aside to expose the nail.
  9. (intransitive) To slope downwards from the crest and whitewater portion of a wave.
  10. (transitive, archaic, slang) Of a servant: to embezzle money from (the employer).

Translations

Further reading
  • “shoulder”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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