different between shrewd vs shifty

English

Alternative forms

• shrewde (obsolete)

Etymology

c. 1300, Middle English schrewed (“depraved; wicked”, literally “accursed”), from schrewen (“to curse; beshrew”), from schrewe, schrowe, screwe (“evil or wicked person/thing”), from Old English scr?awa (“wicked person”, literally “biter”). Equivalent to shrew +? -ed. More at shrew.

The sense of "cunning" developed in early 16^th c., gradually gaining a positive connotation by 17^th c.

Pronunciation

• enPR: shro?od, IPA^(key): /??u?d/

• Rhymes: -u?d

Adjective

shrewd (comparative shrewder, superlative shrewdest)

1. Showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters.
2. Artful, tricky or cunning.
3. (informal) Streetwise, street-smart.
4. Knowledgeable, intelligent, keen.
5. Nigh accurate.

6. Severe, intense, hard.

7. Sharp, snithy, piercing.

8. (archaic) Bad, evil, threatening.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene ii:

     Portia:

     There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper,

     That steals the colours from Bassanio's cheek:

     Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world

     Could turn so much the constitution

     Of any constant man. What, worse and worse!— […]

9. (obsolete) Portending, boding.
10. (archaic) Noxious, scatheful, mischievous.
11. (obsolete) Abusive, shrewish.
12. (archaic) Scolding, satirical, sharp.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act II Scene i:

      Leonato: By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.

Derived terms

• shrewdly
• shrewdness

Translations

English

Etymology

shift +? -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???fti/

Adjective

shifty (comparative shiftier, superlative shiftiest)

1. Subject to frequent changes in direction.
   • 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145,^[2]

     Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand.

   • 2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, Chapter 17, p. 190,^[3]

     The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady.

2. (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another, not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
   • 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761,^[4]

     […] his quick, shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr. Thickens’s back.

   • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar” in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, 1928, p. 149,^[5]

     His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily.

   • 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10,^[6]

     He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite.

3. Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal or unreliable.

   He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.

   • 1999, J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace, New York: Viking, Chapter 23, p. 208,^[7]

     ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […] ’

4. Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Cambridge: Macmillan, Volume 1, Chapter 1, p. 34,^[8]

     Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.

Derived terms

• shiftily
• shiftiness
• shifty-eyed

Translations

References