shim

See also: Shim and SHIM

English

A stack of wood shims (sense 2) used in construction.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɪm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860.

Noun

shim (plural shims)

1. A wedge.
2. A thin piece of material, sometimes tapered, used for alignment or support.
   • 2016 January 30, Jeff Howell, “Swinging doors: it's not open and shut”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property), page 15:

     The second adjustment [to a door that keeps swinging open] will require the screws to be loosened, and a shim or packing piece pushed behind the hinge to bring it into line.

3. (computing) A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes.
   • 2010, Russell Smith, Least Privilege Security for Windows 7, Vista and XP:

     Shims intercept Win32 API calls from legacy applications, as defined by system administrators, and then modify the call before passing the code to Windows for execution.

4. A kind of shallow plow used in tillage to break the ground and clear it of weeds.
5. A small metal device used to pick open a lock.

Translations

wedge

• Bulgarian: клин (bg) m (klin)
• French: coin (fr) m
• German: Keil (de) m
• Maori: tahatiti

thin piece of material used for alignment or support

• Bulgarian: шайба (bg) f (šajba)
• French: cale d’épaisseur f, espaceur (fr) m, étai (fr) m, thibaude (fr) f
• German: Unterlage (de) f, Abstandhalter m, Abstandsblech n, Unterlegscheibe (de) f, Zwischenstück n, Klemmstück n, Distanzstück n, Futterblech n, Futterholz n, Ausgleichsblech, Ausgleichsstück n, Passstück n, Beilagscheibe f, Beilagescheibe f
• Maori: tūauau
• Russian: регулировочная прокладка f (regulirovočnaja prokladka)

small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls

shallow plow used in tillage

• French: sarcloir (fr) m

small metal device to pick a lock

• German: Dietrich (de) m

Verb

shim (third-person singular simple present shims, present participle shimming, simple past and past participle shimmed)

1. To fit one or more shims to a piece of machinery.
2. To adjust something by using shims.
3. To adjust the homogeneity of a magnetic field, after the mechanical devices once used for the purpose.
4. (computing, transitive) To intercept and modify calls to (an API), usually for compatibility purposes.

Translations

adjust by using shims

Etymology 2

Blend of she +‎ him.

Noun

shim (plural shims)

1. (informal, often derogatory) A transsexual person, especially a trans woman; (loosely) a drag queen or transvestite.

   Synonym: (derogatory) he-she

   • 1998, The Seneca review, Hobart Student Association:

     He — or "Shim" (she/him), as film director John Waters called the actor Divine — was as much a paradoxical as a perverse fellow.

   • 1995 May 30, The Advocate, page 11:

     "We call him shim— short for 'she-him.'

   • 2004 July 26, grdog, “Wisdom of Great Leaders”, in alt.bitch.pork‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Yes Maam, or Sir or just what / how do you address a shim?

2. (informal, often derogatory) A person characterised by both male and female traits, or by ambiguous male-female traits; a hermaphrodite.
   • 2009, Laurie Notaro, The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 89:

     […] that I was a hermaphrodite, and that things would probably be getting much, much worse as other "parts" of me began to grow manly and I made the full transformation into a "shim."

Translations

transsexual person

• German: Transsexueller (de) m, Transsexuelle (de) f, Transe (de) f

See also

• shim-pua marriage (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• HMIS, HMIs, Mish, hims, mish

Kanuri

Noun

shim

1. eye

Uzbek

Noun

shim (plural shimlar)

1. pants

Declension

Declension of shim

	singular	plural
nominative	shim	shimlar
genitive	shimning	shimlarning
dative	shimga	shimlarga
definite accusative	shimni	shimlarni
locative	shimda	shimlarda
ablative	shimdan	shimlardan

Possessive forms of shim

my	singular	plural
nominative	shimim	shimlarim
genitive	shimimning	shimlarimning
dative	shimimga	shimlarimga
definite accusative	shimimni	shimlarimni
locative	shimimda	shimlarimda
ablative	shimimdan	shimlarimdan
your	singular	plural
nominative	shiming	shimlaring
genitive	shimingning	shimlaringning
dative	shimingga	shimlaringga
definite accusative	shimingni	shimlaringni
locative	shimingda	shimlaringda
ablative	shimingdan	shimlaringdan
her/his/its	singular	plural
nominative	shimi	shimlari
genitive	shimining	shimlarining
dative	shimiga	shimlariga
definite accusative	shimini	shimlarini
locative	shimida	shimlarida
ablative	shimidan	shimlaridan
our	singular	plural
nominative	shimimiz	shimlarimiz
genitive	shimimizning	shimlarimizning
dative	shimimizga	shimlarimizga
definite accusative	shimimizni	shimlarimizni
locative	shimimizda	shimlarimizda
ablative	shimimizdan	shimlarimizdan
your	singular	plural
nominative	shimingiz	shimlaringiz
genitive	shimingizning	shimlaringizning
dative	shimingizga	shimlaringizga
definite accusative	shimingizni	shimlaringizni
locative	shimingizda	shimlaringizda
ablative	shimingizdan	shimlaringizdan
their	singular	plural
nominative	shimi	shimlari
genitive	shimining	shimlarining
dative	shimiga	shimlariga
definite accusative	shimini	shimlarini
locative	shimida	shimlarida
ablative	shimidan	shimlaridan