SHAPE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Shape

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/ʃeɪp/ Listen

noun

Shape n.

1.

Character or construction of a thing as determining its external appearance; outward aspect; make; figure; form; guise; as, the shape of a tree; the shape of the head; an elegant shape. "He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman."

2.

That which has form or figure; a figure; an appearance; a being. "Before the gates three sat, On either side, a formidable shape."

3.

A model; a pattern; a mold.

4.

Form of embodiment, as in words; form, as of thought or conception; concrete embodiment or example, as of some quality.

5.

Dress for disguise; guise. (Obs.) "Look better on this virgin, and consider This Persian shape laid by, and she appearing In a Greekish dress."

6.

(Iron Manuf.)

(a)

A rolled or hammered piece, as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.

(b)

A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.

To take shape, to assume a definite form.

verb

Shape v. t. (past shaped; past part. shaped or shapen; pres. part. shaping)

1.

To form or create; especially, to mold or make into a particular form; to give proper form or figure to. "I was shapen in iniquity." "Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face."

2.

To adapt to a purpose; to regulate; to adjust; to direct; as, to shape the course of a vessel. "To the stream, when neither friends, nor force, Nor speed nor art avail, he shapes his course." "Charmed by their eyes, their manners I acquire, And shape my foolishness to their desire."

3.

To imagine; to conceive; to call forth (ideas). (archaic) "Oft my jealousy Shapes faults that are not."

4.

To design; to prepare; to plan; to arrange. "When shapen was all this conspiracy, From point to point."

Shaping machine. (Mach.) Same as Shaper.

To shape one's self, to prepare; to make ready. (Obs.) "I will early shape me therefor."

Shape v. i. To suit; to be adjusted or conformable. (R.)

See images of 'Shape'

Etymology of 'Shape'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Shape" Quotes from Famous Books

... are men; how everything has been ordered for the best: what happiness reigns in this house! If only a kind Providence would hear the prayers of those who entreat that a new blessing may be sent down from heaven to the good lord of Levetinczy, in the shape ...

— Timar's Two Worlds • Mr Jkai

... this animalcule attain a length of between 1/300 or 1/400 of an inch, so that it may have ten times the length and a thousand times the mass of a Heteromita. In shape, it is not altogether unlike Heteromita. The small end, however, is not produced into one long cilium, but the general surface of the body is covered with small actively vibrating ciliary organs, which are only longest at the small end. At the point which answers to that from which ...

— Discourses - Biological and Geological Essays • Thomas H. Huxley

... of the hobbies of our somewhat eccentric "third" was the collection of choice weapons, several valuable specimens of which adorned his state-room. If he ever saw anything specially curious or choice in the shape of sword or pistol, he never rested until he had made it his own; but when once the coveted article had come into his possession he seemed to lose all further interest in it, and accordingly, being also a good-natured ...

— Under the Meteor Flag - Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War • Harry Collingwood

... chimneys where there is always so little fire when there is any fire at all, and which are so cold to look at. There was no fire in this one, there was not even ashes; but there was something which attracted the stranger's gaze, nevertheless. It was two tiny children's shoes, coquettish in shape and unequal in size. The traveller recalled the graceful and immemorial custom in accordance with which children place their shoes in the chimney on Christmas eve, there to await in the darkness some sparkling gift from their good fairy. Eponine and Azelma had taken care not to ...

— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... me, if a man accuses me of this offence, for him to profess that he does not accuse me of that; but he thought differently. Not being able then to gain redress in the quarter, where I had a right to ask it, I appealed to the public. I published the correspondence in the shape of a Pamphlet, with some remarks of my own at the end, on the course which that correspondence ...

— Apologia Pro Vita Sua • John Henry Cardinal Newman

Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com