shy

Etymology

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English sċēoh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

adj

1. Easily frightened; timid.
2. Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
   He is very shy with strangers.
   Graham Norton: But the people coming up to you now, like the Americans, well, you know, the Americans, they're not shy, the Americans. / Maggie Smith: No. Well, no but I don't go anywhere where really they can get at me. It's usually in museums and art galleries and things, so that limits things. I keep away from there, and Harrod's I don't go near. October 30 2015, The Graham Norton Show, season 18, episode 6
3. Cautious; wary; suspicious.
   Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors. 1641, Henry Wotton, The Characters of Robert Devereux and George Villiers
4. (informal) Short, insufficient or less than.
   By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
   It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
   The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week. 2013, Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street, spoken by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio)
   United move seventh - still six points off a Champions League place and a massive 16 shy of the lead held by rivals Manchester City. 1 December 2018, Tom Rostance, “Southampton 2 – 2 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport
5. Embarrassed.

verb

1. (intransitive) To avoid due to caution, embarrassment or timidness.
   Courts might tend to shy from limiting Congress under such a vague standard. Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on Government Operations (page 172)
2. (intransitive) To jump back in fear.
   The horse shied at the unexpected approach of a motor vehicle.
3. (transitive) To throw sideways with a jerk; to fling.
   to shy a stone
   shy a slipper
4. (Scotland, transitive, intransitive) To throw a ball with two hands above the head, especially when it has crossed the side lines in a football (soccer) match. To hit the ball back into play from the sidelines in a shinty match.

noun

1. An act of throwing.
   If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody. 1846, Punch, volume 10
   The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy. 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 55
2. A place for throwing.
   coconut shy
3. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
4. In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.
5. (Scotland, soccer) A throw-in from the sidelines, using two hands above the head. In shinty, the act of tossing the ball above the head and hitting it with the shaft of the caman to bring it back into play after it has been hit out of the field.