▪ I. shrug, n.
(ʃrʌg)
Also 7 shrugg.
[f. shrug v.]
† 1. a. A tug, pull. b. A shake (of the hand).
The first quot. is obscure.
| c 1460 Play Sacram. 597 Here master master ware how ye tugg The devylle I trowe w{supt} in shrugge for yt gooth rebylle rable. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 12 Unto this fellowe..I'le goe, And with my hand will give a shrug or two. 1742 H. Walpole Let. to Mann 7 July, All the effect this notable speech had was to frighten my uncle, and make him give two or three shrugs extraordinary to his breeches. |
2. A raising and contraction of the shoulders to express dislike, disdain, indifference, or the like.
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 69 It is growen to a common prouerbe, Ile giue him the Neapolitan shrug, when one intends to play the villaine, and make no boast of it. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 110 Still haue I borne it with a patient shrug. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 167 To these exceptions hee answered with a Spanish shrug of the shouldier. 1619 Fletcher Mons. Thomas i. ii, Sirrah, no more of your French shrugs I advise you. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 75 ¶6 He contradicts with a Shrug, and confutes with a certain sufficiency. 1775 F. Burney Early Diary 3 Apr. He is a lively man, full of chat, and foreign shrugs and gestures. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. iii, A scarce visible shrug of apology. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 170 The Guide Chef..met me with a polite sympathetic shrug. 1872 Darwin Emotions xi. 267 He ordered a Bengalee to climb a lofty tree; but the man, with a shrug of his shoulders, and a lateral shake of his head, said he could not. 1886 T. Frost Remin. Country Journalist 99, I passed on, with a smile and a shrug. |
† 3. A shifting or hitching of the body, a fidgety movement (cf. shrug v. 5). Obs.
| 1626 W. Hawkins Apollo Shroving 72 There is a drowsie shrugge..This shrugge is commonly performed with displaying out the armes, and yawning with the mouth. Ibid. The Misers shrugge, the winter shrugge, the drowsie shrugge, the lousie shrugge. |
† 4. A shiver, shudder. Obs. rare.
| 1713 Wodrow Corr. (1842) I. 448 The Lord Advocate died..without any shruggs of death. |
5. A short, close-fitting woman's jacket or shoulder stole with sleeves, orig. knitted or crocheted. Also attrib., as shrug jacket. orig. U.S.
| 1957 Knitted Outerwear Times 12 Aug. 23/2 Women are buying the Orlon shrug for wear over sleeveless dresses and in air conditioned rooms. 1962 Guardian 5 Oct. 8/5 (caption) This ensemble..is made up of skirt and shrug in royal blue loose weave mockknit. 1973 Country Life 25 Jan. 250/2 Lucca lamb shrug. 1980 Times 12 Feb. 7/6 Camisole top and shrug jacket takes 7 50g balls of 3 Suisses Barbara. |
▪ II. shrug, v.
(ʃrʌg)
Forms: 5 schrugge, shrukke, 5–7 shrugge, 6 shroge, shruck, 8 shrugg, 6– shrug.
[Of obscure origin.
Sw. dial. skrukka, skrugge to crouch, sit doubled up, Da. skrukke, skrugge to duck with the head, to walk with a stoop, are probably unconnected.]
1. intr. To shiver; to shudder for cold or fear. Now rare or Obs.
| c 1400 [see shrugging vbl. n.]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 449/1 Schruggyn [Winch. MS. shruggon], frigulo. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Peter iv. 11 b, As often as we loke backe at them, we shrugge for feare to remembre suche fylthynes of lyfe. 1580 T. Blundeville Horsemanship, Horse's Dis. lxxxiv. 35 He will be chill, and shrug for cold. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. v. 27 The French Lacquey, and Irish Foote⁓boy, shrugging at the doores. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 580 To shrugge in cold weather, and to wish a fire. a 1677 Manton Serm. Ps. cxix. 136 He that shrugs when he sees a snake creep upon another. 1702 S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus ii. 130 It makes me shrugg when I call to mind the Agonies which he suffer'd. |
2. To raise (and contract) the shoulders, esp. as an expression of disdain, indifference, disclaiming responsibility, etc.; in early use also, † to cringe.
| c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 299 They schal not..caste oute ther armes or handes, nor schrugge withe the scholders. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1154/2 If they did either frowne or shrug at him. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. ix. 4 Where great Patricians shall attend, and shrug, I'th'end admire. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 367 Hag-seed, hence:..shrug'st thou (Malice)? 1680 Dryden Kind Kpr. i. i. 11 Here will you take me at my word? Wood (Shrugging up) Troppo poco, troppoco. 1788 F. Burney Diary 10 Jan., I was quite shocked for her, and could only shrug in dismay. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxiii, Ewan..shrugged, as one who would express by that sign that what he was doing was none of his own choice. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel xliv, Adrian,..rose and accompanied him out of the room, shrugging. 1880 Cable Grandissimes xiv, The quadroon shrugged. |
3. a. trans. To raise and contract (the shoulders) in this way. Formerly often with up.
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 187 Yf he cast hys head at the one syde, and do shroge vp hys shoulders. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. B 2 b, The action that he vsed, of shrucking vp his shoulders,..and biting the lip. 1596 ― Saffron Walden G 2, If..I had not seene him shrug his shoulders, and talk of going to the Bathe. 1603 Dekker Wond. Yeare Wks. (Grosart) I. 137 Shrugging his shoulders together. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 264 ¶2 He..shrugs his shoulder when you talk of Securities. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner i. 66 He shrugs his shoulders, shakes his head. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 359 The triangular space between the deltoid and pectoral may be seen even in the living person when the shoulders are shrugged up. 1876 Green Stray Studies 48 The Italian shrugs his shoulders and submits in a humorous way. |
b. fig. to shrug (something) off or aside: to dismiss or reject (something) in an offhand manner; to be unaffected by.
| 1909 Webster, Shrug off. 1932 Now & Then Spring 15/2 He might shrug aside or be bored or even disgusted by Strange Interlude or Mourning Becomes Electra. 1949 Catholic Times 4 Mar. 5/1 The disgrace of Yalta can never be shrugged off. 1963 Observer 17 Feb. 23/5 Some house⁓flies and mosquitoes can now shrug off not one but several of the most lethal poisons. 1981 Times 18 Apr. 21/5 The stockmarket has also shrugged aside the collapse of Hedderick Stirling Grumbar. |
4. nonce-uses. a. To bring by shrugging (into..).
| 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xviii, It is not the composition of the piece, but the number of starts and attitudes that may be introduced into it that elicits applause. I have known a piece with not one jest in the whole shrugged into popularity. |
b. To express by means of a shrug.
| 1897 ‘A. Hope’ Phroso i, He..shrugged a tolerant ‘As you will’, with eloquent shoulders. |
† 5. intr. (and refl.) To move the body from side to side as with uneasiness, or as a gesture of joy or self-satisfaction; to fidget about. Obs.
| c 1460 [see shrugging vbl. n. 2]. 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 71 The good man of the house shrodge [? read shrogde] hym for Ioye, thinking to hym selfe, I wyll make some pastyme with you anone. 1601 [? Marston] Jack Drums Entert. iii. D 4 b, Mounsieurs Goat drunke, and he shrugges, and skrubbes, and hees it for a wench. a 1631 Donne Sat. i. 74 He..grins, smacks, shrugs, and such an itch endures, As prentises, or schoole-boyes which doe know Of some gay sport abroad, yet dare not goe. 1638 Dekker etc. Witch of Edmonton iv. ii. stage dir., Enter Dog, shrugging as it were for joy, and dances. 1651 H. More Second Lash in Enthus. Tri., etc. (1656) M 2 b, That Book..I intended onely for a stumble to wake you (that you might shrugg and rub your eyes, and see in what a naked condition you are). 1652 Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 479 The Louse gave a tug, that made the Taylor shrug. |
6. refl. and intr. To draw oneself together, ‘curl’ oneself up; to shrink. ? Obs.
| 1603 Florio tr. Montaigne iii. ix. 588 Let mee shrowd and shrugge my selfe into my shell, as a tortoise. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass i. iv. 80 stage dir., Hee shrugs himselfe vp in the cloake. 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick 39 How Plants, when they first begin to bud, will shrug and contract the little Stem. 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xvii, Robin, the bird,..shrugs and folds itself into its feathers. |
† 7. intr. To shrink back or away, cower; occas. const. inf., to hesitate to do something. Obs.
| 1576 Gascoigne Grief of Joy ii. lv, That from the sonne we shrug into the shade And drowping sitt. 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg. i. 7 But that thou dost refuse and shrug to know such slender cares. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 385 Let us not..shrug at the difficulty. 1675 Brooks Golden Key Wks. 1867 V. 191 Will you shrug, and shrink, and faint, and fret when you are reproached for his name? |
† 8. trans. To contract or jerk uneasily. Obs.
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 173 He shrugg'd his sturdy Back, As if he felt his Shoulders ake. |
9. To jerk, pull or tug up. U.S.
| 1807 J. Barlow Columb. iii. 441 Zamor, the chieftain of the Tiger-band,..Shrugg'd up his brinded spoils above the rest. 1889 M. E. Wilkins Far-away Melody etc. (1891) 29 She lay quietly, her shawl shrugged up over her face. |
10. intr. To manœuvre one's arms and shoulders into a garment. Also refl.
| 1930 H. Ashton Dr. Serocold i. iii. 43 She shrugged herself into her stiff overcoat and began to button it all the way up to her chin. 1937 D. Aldis Time at her Heels ii. 33 And shrugging into her brown suit coat she followed her sons and daughter downstairs. 1974 J. Dowell Look-off Bear 6, I shrugged into my warm red-and-black-checked mackinaw jacket. |
Hence shrugged (ʃrʌgd) ppl. a.; also fig.
| 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. i. (1857) 4 An arched eyebrow, a shrugged shoulder. 1874 G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. 23 May (1937) 195 Trees, clouds, and mountaintops ‘seized’ or ‘shrugged’ as in Turner. |