SHAPE • DICTIONARY ONE.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 |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Shape" Quotes from Famous Books

... soup-kitchen in which they were feeding about three hundred, and Mr. G. W. Hyatt, chairman of the Key West Red Cross Committee, was trying to take care of the rest; but both organizations were nearly at the end of their resources, and the local committee had nothing left in the shape of food-stuffs except corn-meal. Miss Barton at once telegraphed the Central Red Cross Committee in New York to forward thirty tons of assorted stores by first steamer, and pending the arrival of these stores ...

— Campaigning in Cuba • George Kennan

... you, Dick, as you know, ever since this thing threatened to take shape in my head," Ford began. "First, let me ask you: do you happen to know where you could lay hands on three or four good constructing engineers—men you could turn loose absolutely and trust implicitly? I'm putting this ...

— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde

... called, of stories which have already appeared elsewhere, or have passed through the circulating libraries. Nay, the novelist who has established a reputation has many more strings to his bow: his novel, thus published in the country newspapers, also appears coincidently in the same serial shape in Australia, Canada, and other British colonies, leaving the three-volume form and the cheap editions 'to the good.' And what is true of fiction is in a less degree true of other kinds of literature. Travels are 'gutted,' and form articles in magazines, illustrated by the ...

— Some Private Views • James Payn

... title-page of this volume indicates, no more is here attempted than a memorial of Charles Dickens in association with his Readings. It appeared desirable that something in the shape of an accurate record should be made of an episode in many respects so remarkable in the career of the most popular author of his generation. A commemorative volume, precisely of this character, was projected by the writer in the spring of 1870. ...

— Charles Dickens as a Reader • Charles Kent

... graces of the monarch and his favourite. The time was now come, as he at once saw, to profit by so signal a proof of policy and forethought; and Richelieu was prepared to use it with the craft and cleverness which were destined to shape out his future fortunes. To his active and ambitious spirit a residence in the capital in the character of a deposed minister was impossible; while he equally deprecated the idea of burying himself in his diocese among the marshes of Lower Poitou. He resolved, therefore, to share ...

— The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 2 (of 3) • Julia Pardoe

Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com