different between shy vs prim

English

Etymology

From Middle English shy (“shy”), from Old English s??oh (“shy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh (“shy, fearful”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz (“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian skjou (“shy”), Dutch schuw (“shy”), German scheu (“shy”), Danish sky (“shy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophone: Chi

Adjective

shy (comparative shier or shyer or more shy, superlative shiest or shyest or most shy)

1. Easily frightened; timid.
   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

     The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables, having been daily led before me, were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.

2. Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shy

   Antonyms: audacious, bold, brazen, gregarious, extroverted, outgoing

   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     What makes you so shy, my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.

3. Cautious; wary; suspicious.
   • 1641, Henry Wotton, The Characters of Robert Devereux and George Villiers

     Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.

   • 1661, Robert Boyle , Some Considerations Touching Experimental Essays in General

     I am very shy of building any thing of moment upon foundations

4. (informal) Short, insufficient or less than.
5. Embarrassed.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

• Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase.
• Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy "shy of leashes" or head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.

Derived terms

• shy bairns get nowt, shy bairns get noot

Translations

See also

• bashful
• reserved
• timid
• demure
• coy

Verb

shy (third-person singular simple present shies, present participle shying, simple past and past participle shied)

1. (intransitive) To avoid due to caution or timidness.

2. (intransitive) To jump back in fear.

3. (transitive) To throw sideways with a jerk; to fling.

Translations

Noun

shy (plural shies)

1. An act of throwing.

   • Foker discharged a prodigious bouquet at her, and even Smirke made a feeble shy with a rose, and blushed dreadfully when it fell into the pit

   • 1846, Punch Volume 10

     If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.

   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 55:

     The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy.

2. A place for throwing.

3. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
4. In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.

Derived terms

• coconut shy
• have a shy

Translations

Anagrams

• Hys, hys, syh

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??m/, [p?????m]
• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

Old French prim, prin, from Latin primus (“first”).

Adjective

prim (comparative primmer, superlative primmest)

1. prudish, straight-laced
2. formal; precise; affectedly neat or nice

   • Philemon was in great surprise,?
     And hardly could believe his eyes,
     Amaz'd to see her look so prim;
     And she admir'd as much at him.

Usage notes

Often used in the collocation “prim and proper”.

Derived terms

• prim and proper
• prissy

Translations

Verb

prim (third-person singular simple present prims, present participle primming, simple past and past participle primmed)

1. (dated) To make affectedly precise or proper.
2. (dated) To dress or act smartly.

Etymology 2

See privet.

Noun

prim

1. (plants) privet

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin pr?mus, from earlier pr?smos from *pr?semos from Proto-Italic *priisemos.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?p?im/
• Rhymes: -im

Adjective

prim (feminine prima, masculine plural prims, feminine plural primes)

1. thin, skinny

Derived terms

• aprimar
• primesa
• primor

Related terms

• primer

Further reading

• “prim” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “prim” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “prim” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

References

Ladin

Alternative forms

• prum

Etymology

From Latin pr?mus.

Adjective

prim m (feminine singular prima, masculine plural primi, feminine plural primes)

1. first

Old English

Etymology

From Latin pr?ma (“first; first hour”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pri?m/

Noun

pr?m ?

1. (historical) Prime, the first hour or tide (3-hour period) after dawn
2. (Christianity) Prime, the divine office appointed for the hour in the liturgy

Synonyms

• (hour; tide): ?nt?d
• (service): pr?msang

Derived terms

• pr?msang

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “pr?m”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin pr?mus, from earlier pr?smos < *pr?semos < Proto-Italic *priisemos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prim/

Adjective

prim m or n (feminine singular prim?, masculine plural primi, feminine and neuter plural prime)

1. prime, first

Declension

Synonyms

• întâi

Antonyms

• ultim

Related terms

• primar
• prim?var?
• împrim?

Volapük

Noun

prim (nominative plural prims)

1. beginning

Declension