What does "shin" mean?
Shin: (Railbroad) A fish plate for rails. Knight. Shin bone (Anat.), the tibia. -- Shin leaf (Bot.), a perennial ericaceous herb (Pyrola elliptica) with a cluster of radical leaves and a raceme of greenish white flowers.
Additional senses
- 2.To climb a mast, tree, rope, or the like, by embracing it alternately with the arms and legs, without help of steps, spurs, or the like; -- used with up; as, to shin up a mast. [Slang]
- 3.To run about borrowing money hastily and temporarily, as for the payment of one's notes at the bank. [Slang, U.S.] Bartlett.
- 4.To climb (a pole, etc.) by shinning up. [Slang]
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00