• Shoulder

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈʃəʊldÉ™/
    • US enPR: shōlʹdÉ™r, IPA: /ˈʃoÊŠldÉš/
    • Rhymes: -əʊldÉ™(r)

    Origin

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

    Full definition of shoulder

    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, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, 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.
        • 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, 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 comprised of the upper joint of the foreleg and the surrounding muscle.
      4. The portion of a garment where the shoulder is clothed.
      5. Anything forming a shape resembling a human shoulder.
      6. (topography) A shelf between two levels.
        1. A part of a road where drivers may stop in an emergency; a hard shoulder.
          He stopped the car on the shoulder of the highway to change the flat tire.
        2. The portion of a hill or mountain just below the peak.
          • Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)the north western shoulder of the mountain
        3. The lateral protrusion of a hill or mountain.
        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.
        6. (printing) The flat portion of type that is below the bevelled portion that joins up with the face.
        7. (of an object) The portion below the neck.
          1. (music) The rounded portion of 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.
        8. (figurative) That which supports or sustains; support.

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from shoulder

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To push (a person or thing) using one's shoulder.
      • unknown date Edmond SpenserAs they the earth would shoulder from her seat.
      • unknown date Rowe''Around her numberless the rabble flowed,
        Shouldering each other, crowding for a view.
    2. (transitive) To carry (something) on one's shoulders.
    3. (transitive, figuratively) To bear a burden, as a financial obligation.
      • 1950, Colin Arthur Cooke, Corporation, Trust and Company: An Essay in Legal History, The shareholders were then shouldering a burden of liability out of proportion to their mere ownership of theoretical fractions of the business.
    4. (transitive) To put (something) on one's shoulders.
      • 2008, June, Men's Health, The World's Simplest Workout, 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.
    5. (transitive, figuratively) To accept responsibility for.shoulder the blame
    6. (transitive) To place (something) against one's shoulders.
      • 2004, Chris Christian, Larry Sterett, Rick Sapp, The Gun Digest Book of Trap & Skeet Shooting, All three sets are nicely sculptured along the bottom to prevent interference when shouldering your gun with proper shooting form.
    7. (transitive) To form a shape resembling a shoulder.
      • 1977, Roger W. Autor Bolz, Production Processes: The Productivity Handbook, 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.
    8. (intransitive) To move by or as if by using one's shoulders.
      • 2003, Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad, He had seen them in the beer halls, shouldering up to the head of the queues
      • 2008, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, Mr. Wagstaff strolled with me along the wooded arm of land shouldering northwards from Bethlehem Bay.
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