shy (the verb) / shying at shadows
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:46 am
I read the following a few months ago. And the ripped-out magazine page containing it happened to be on top of my pile of ripped-out pages (which is not necessarily in chronological order), so I figured, why not?
I figured a good start in surmising its meaning would be to look up the transitive verb SHY. It was a bad sign that this verb did not appear in the first dictionary I consulted, Merriam-Webster Online. As I checked further, however, it appeared in some dictionaries but not in others.
SHY transitive verb (Chiefly colloquial): To throw (an object) with a swift, sudden movement; to fling, throw, jerk, toss something quickly and at a target; to try to hit something, especially with a ball or stone. <to shy a stone> <boys who delighted in shying stones at her fowls> <He tore the glasses off and shied them at her>. To have a shy at something—is to make an attempt at something; to have a shot at it. (Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary of Idioms. Encarta, Allen’s English Phrases)
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The OED says that the verb SHY is of ‘obscure origin’ (a.k.a. origin unknown). However, etymologists William and Mary Morris, the Word Detective’s dad and mom, gave it a try in their MORRIS DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS:
SHY: The verb to shy in such phrases as ‘he shied a stone at the dog’ probably goes back to a rather cruel sport common in the Middle Ages. Players tied a cock to a stake and took turns throwing stones at him. The best, and most deadly, marksman was the winner. . . This cruel sport was called ‘cockshying’ [[throwing stones at cocks]]. One theory of the origin of this name is that most cocks would not fight until goaded into doing so. Pelting them with stones had the effect of making them less shy. So the adjective and the verb both had the same meaning originally. [[I was doing fine up until the last sentence????]]
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Some transitive verb SHY quotes from the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY:
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Ken G —December 6, 2010
Not being familiar with the phrase SHYING AT SHADOWS, I looked for its definition in every resource I could muster, but it was nowhere to be found. If anyone wants to take a shot at finding it, maybe they’ll have better luck than I did.<2009 “And it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid entertaining the suspicion that there is something explicitly political in the underlying process of Nobelista decision making. I do not think that I am shying at shadows here, either.”—Newsweek, 10 October, page 40> [[Christopher Hitchens on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize]]
I figured a good start in surmising its meaning would be to look up the transitive verb SHY. It was a bad sign that this verb did not appear in the first dictionary I consulted, Merriam-Webster Online. As I checked further, however, it appeared in some dictionaries but not in others.
SHY transitive verb (Chiefly colloquial): To throw (an object) with a swift, sudden movement; to fling, throw, jerk, toss something quickly and at a target; to try to hit something, especially with a ball or stone. <to shy a stone> <boys who delighted in shying stones at her fowls> <He tore the glasses off and shied them at her>. To have a shy at something—is to make an attempt at something; to have a shot at it. (Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary of Idioms. Encarta, Allen’s English Phrases)
________________________________
The OED says that the verb SHY is of ‘obscure origin’ (a.k.a. origin unknown). However, etymologists William and Mary Morris, the Word Detective’s dad and mom, gave it a try in their MORRIS DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS:
SHY: The verb to shy in such phrases as ‘he shied a stone at the dog’ probably goes back to a rather cruel sport common in the Middle Ages. Players tied a cock to a stake and took turns throwing stones at him. The best, and most deadly, marksman was the winner. . . This cruel sport was called ‘cockshying’ [[throwing stones at cocks]]. One theory of the origin of this name is that most cocks would not fight until goaded into doing so. Pelting them with stones had the effect of making them less shy. So the adjective and the verb both had the same meaning originally. [[I was doing fine up until the last sentence????]]
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Some transitive verb SHY quotes from the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY:
What I would make of SHYING AT SHADOWS is that it means something like throwing stones at shadows; fighting, attacking, arguing against, worrying about, getting nervous or spooked over nonexistent problems. Tilting at windmills might not be a bad fit.<1793 “It was but the other day he thought that every man ought to shy Jack Dawson from their Houses and Lo now he is his dear friend”—Journal (1965) of W. B. Stevens, 26 March, I. page 74>
<1827 “I cannot keep up with the world without shying a letter now and then.”—Journal of Walter Scott, 26 March> [[figurative use]]
<1835 “I wish he hadn't shied the cat at her.”—Jacob Faithful by F. Marryat, xxxiii>
<1857 “He . . . shied the pieces of glass carefully over the wall.”—It is Never too Late to Mend by C. Reade, xv>
<1868 “He would merely shy barbarous words, half-Latin, half-Greek at us.”— Realmah (1876) by A. Helps, page 245>[[figurative use]]
<1874 “We could shy up our caps for a feller.”—Head over Heels by G. Walch, page 74>
<1880 “Her own glass and its contents were shyed to the other end of the room.”—Adam and Eve by Mrs. L. Parr, page 233>
<1882 “Then you bolted from Oxford, and shied up your fellowship.”— Faucit of Balliol by H. C. Merivale, II. ii. ii. page 161> [[figurative use]]
<1886 “I shied the stuff away.”—For Mamie’s Sake by G. Allen, xviii>
(quotes from archived sources)<1893 “Men were beginning to walk puss-footed and shy at shadows.” —Scribner’s Magazine, November, page 653> [[the OED’s only quote]]
<1895 “. . . neiher Negley nor Baird where men to shy at shadows.”—Cosmopolitan, Vol. 18, page 732>
<1921 “We shy at shadows, make mountains of molehills, and take counsel of ill-founded fears.”—Herald and Presbyter, Vol.92, 14 December, page 26>
<1966”Shadow Roll — A large sheepskin-type roll worn above horse’s nose and just below eyes. It cuts off horse’s view of track and prevents shying at shadows, pieces of paper and other objects Chicago Tribune, 9 September, page C1>
<1991 “An odd thing the human mind! So capricious, faithless, infinitely shying at shadows.”— Revising Jacob's Room: Virginia Woolf, Women, and Language by K. Flint, page 373>
<1993 “. . . [[many Russian dissident writers]] withdrew publicly from Vereteno [[a society of these writers]] in protest against the spirit now pervading the organization: a Nakanune [[a Russian government organ newspaper]] writer had been invited to this first session, Aleksy Tolstoy [[another Nakanune writer]] to the next. Their secession was no shying at shadows. . .”— Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years by Brian Boyd, page 199>
<1999 “. . . has the odour of a bunch of politicians running scared, shying at shadows and terrified of offending the touchiest voter . . .”—Lethbridge Herald (Alberta , Canada), 21 June, page 8>
<2003 “. . . those dice had him shying at shadows and jumping at sighs.”—Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan, page 128>
<2007 “The untutored mind is naïve and softheaded. . . It swallows everything it is told. Hence it is forever shying at shadows, growling at reflections, pursuing will-o'-the-wisps and clinging to phantoms.”— Shadow of the Third Century: A Revaluation of Christianity by A. B. Kuhn, page 204>
<2009 “And it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid entertaining the suspicion that there is something explicitly political in the underlying process of Nobelista decision making. I do not think that I am shying at shadows here, either.”—Newsweek, 10 October, page 40> [[Christopher Hitchens on Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize]
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Ken G —December 6, 2010