shanghai

WOTD – 23 April 2008    

See also Shanghai

English

Etymology

From Mandarin 上海 (Shànghǎi), with reference to the former practice of forcibly crewing ships heading for the Orient.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˌʃaŋˈhaɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈʃeɪŋ.haɪ/, /ˌʃeɪŋˈhaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied)

1. (transitive) To force or trick (someone) into joining a ship which is lacking a full crew.
   • 1999 June 24, ‘The Resurrection of Tom Waits’, in Rolling Stone, quoted in Innocent When You Dream, Orion (2006), page 256,

     It was the strangest galley: the sounds, the steam, he's screaming at his coworkers. I felt like I'd been shanghaied.

2. (transitive) To abduct or coerce.
3. (transitive) To commandeer; appropriate; hijack

   Let's see if we can shanghai a room for a couple of hours.

Synonyms

• (force or trick someone into joining a ship; abduct or coerce): press-gang

Translations

to force or trick into joining a ship

• Danish: shanghaje (da)
• Dutch: sjanghaaien (nl)
• Finnish: shanghaijata (fi)
• German: schanghaien (de)

• Hungarian: elrabol (hu)
• Irish: shanghai-áil (ga)
• Spanish: emborrachar para llevarlo como marinero
• Swedish: sjanghaja (sv)

Noun

shanghai (plural shanghais)

1. (dated) A slingshot.