different between slingshot vs shanghai

English

Etymology

sling +? shot

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sl????t/
• Hyphenation: sling?shot

Noun

slingshot (plural slingshots)

1. (chiefly US) A Y-shaped stick with an elastic sling between the arms used for shooting small projectiles.
2. (pinball) A stationary, often triangular object that launches any ball that hits its longest side back at a high force, now usually located above the flipper and between it and the inlane, with one each for both lower flippers.

Synonyms

• (stick with elastic band for shooting projectiles): bean shooter, catapult (UK), flip, hand catapult, shanghai (Australia and New Zealand)

Translations

Verb

slingshot (third-person singular simple present slingshots, present participle slingshotting, simple past and past participle slingshotted)

1. To move or cause to move in a manner resembling a projectile shot from a slingshot.
2. (especially) To use the gravity of a moving planet to add momentum to a spacecraft.

See also

• gravity assist

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??æ??ha?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??æ?.ha?/, /??æ??ha?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Etymology 1

American English, from Shanghai, with reference to the former practice of forcibly crewing ships heading for the Orient.

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 as part of the crew.

   Synonym: press-gang

   • 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.

   Synonym: press-gang

   • 1974 September 30, ‘Final Report on the Activities of the Children of God',

     Oftentimes the approach is to shanghai an unsuspecting victim.
3. (transitive, US) To trick (a person) into entering a jurisdiction where they can lawfully be arrested.
4. (transitive) To commandeer; appropriate; hijack

5. (transitive, military, slang) To transfer (a person) against their will.
   • 2020, Stephen Crane, ?Ambrose Bierce, The Military MEGAPACK®: 25 Great Tales of War (page 329)

     “Why, if you so loved and cherished the armed guard,” Captain Banning continued, “did you arrange for transfer?”
     “I never, sir! ... But he shanghaied me out of the armed guard pronto.”

Translations

Noun

shanghai (plural shanghais)

1. (US, archaic) A tall dandy.

Etymology 2

From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.

Noun

shanghai (plural shanghais)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A slingshot.
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 206:

     They scrounged around the camp […] and held out their filthy wings to the feeble sun, making themselves an easy target for Charles's shanghai.

Translations

References