Adjacent Words

Shape definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SHAPE, v.t. pret. shaped; pp. shaped or shapen.
1. To form or create.
I was shapen in iniquity. Psalms 51.
2. To mold or make into a particular form; to give form or figure to; as, to shape a garment.
Grace shap'd her limbs, and beauty deck'd her face. Prior.
3. To mold; to cast; to regulate; to adjust; to adapt to a purpose. He shapes his plans or designs to the temper of the times.
4. To direct; as, to shape a course.
5. To image; to conceive.
Oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not. Shak.
SHAPE, v.i. To square; to suit; to be adjusted.
SHAPE, n.
1. Form or figure as constituted by lines and angles; as the shape of a horse or a tree; the shape of the head, hand or foot.
2. External appearance.
He beat me grievously in the shape of a woman. Shak.
3. The form of the trunk of the human boky; as a clumsy shape; an elegant shape.
4. A being as endowed with form.
Before the gates are sat,
On either side, a formidable shape. Milton.
5. Idea; pattern.
6. Form. This application comes before the legislature in the shape of a memorial.
7. Manner.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline); "he could barely make out their shapes" [syn: shape, form, configuration, contour, conformation]
2: the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance; "geometry is the mathematical science of shape" [syn: shape, form]
3: alternative names for the body of a human being; "Leonardo studied the human body"; "he has a strong physique"; "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" [syn: human body, physical body, material body, soma, build, figure, physique, anatomy, shape, bod, chassis, frame, form, flesh]
4: a concrete representation of an otherwise nebulous concept; "a circle was the embodiment of his concept of life" [syn: shape, embodiment]
5: the visual appearance of something or someone; "the delicate cast of his features" [syn: form, shape, cast]
6: the state of (good) health (especially in the phrases `in condition' or `in shape' or `out of condition' or `out of shape') [syn: condition, shape]
7: the supreme headquarters that advises NATO on military matters and oversees all aspects of the Allied Command Europe [syn: Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, SHAPE]
8: a perceptual structure; "the composition presents problems for students of musical form"; "a visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them" [syn: form, shape, pattern] v
1: shape or influence; give direction to; "experience often determines ability"; "mold public opinion" [syn: determine, shape, mold, influence, regulate]
2: make something, usually for a specific function; "She molded the rice balls carefully"; "Form cylinders from the dough"; "shape a figure"; "Work the metal into a sword" [syn: shape, form, work, mold, mould, forge]
3: give shape or form to; "shape the dough"; "form the young child's character" [syn: shape, form]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (shaped; shaping) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sceapen, gescapen, past participle of scieppan; akin to Old High German skepfen to shape Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. form, create; especially to give a particular form or shape to 2. obsolete ordain, decree 3. to adapt in shape so as to fit neatly and closely <a dress shaped to her figure> 4. a. devise, plan <shape a policy> b. to embody in definite form <shaping a folktale into an epic> 5. a. to make fit for (as a particular use or purpose) ; adapt <shape the questions to fit the answers> b. to determine or direct the course or character of <events that shaped history> c. to modify (behavior) by rewarding changes that tend toward a desired response intransitive verb 1. to come to pass ; happen <it's shaping up that I am known now for my husbands — Leslie Marmon Silko> 2. to take on or approach a mature or definite form — often used with up <the summer is shaping up to be one of the hottest on record> • shaper noun II. noun Date: before 12th century 1. a. the visible makeup characteristic of a particular item or kind of item <a cake in the shape of a Christmas tree> b. (1) spatial form or contour <the clouds kept changing shape> (2) a standard or universally recognized spatial form <a stain in the shape of a perfect circle> 2. the appearance of the body as distinguished from that of the face ; figure 3. a. phantom, apparition <eerie shapes floating in the mist> b. assumed appearance ; guise <a trick-or-treater in the shape of a pumpkin> 4. form of embodiment <our plans are taking shape> 5. a mode of existence or form of being having identifying features 6. a molded dessert; especially blancmange 7. the condition in which someone or something exists at a particular time <the car was in fine shape> • shaped adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

abbr. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the total effect produced by the outlines of a thing. 2 the external form or appearance of a person or thing. 3 a specific form or guise. 4 a description or sort or way (not on offer in any shape or form). 5 a definite or proper arrangement (must get our ideas into shape). 6 a condition, as qualified in some way (in good shape; in poor shape). b (when unqualified) good condition (back in shape). 7 a person or thing as seen, esp. indistinctly or in the imagination (a shape emerged from the mist). 8 a mould or pattern. 9 a jelly etc. shaped in a mould. 10 a piece of material, paper, etc., made or cut in a particular form. --v. 1 tr. give a certain shape or form to; fashion, create. 2 tr. (foll. by to) adapt or make conform. 3 intr. give signs of a future shape or development. 4 tr. frame mentally; imagine. 5 intr. assume or develop into a shape. 6 tr. direct (one's life, course, etc.). Phrases and idioms: lick (or knock) into shape make presentable or efficient. shape up 1 take a (specified) form. 2 show promise; make good progress. shape up well be promising. Derivatives: shapable adj. (also shapeable). shaped adj. (also in comb.). shaper n. Etymology: OE gesceap creation f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shape Shape (sh[=a]p), v. t. [imp. Shaped (sh[=a]pt); p. p. Shaped or Shapen (sh[=a]p"'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Shaping.] [OE. shapen, schapen, AS. sceapian. The p. p. shapen is from the strong verb, AS. scieppan, scyppan, sceppan, p. p. sceapen. See Shape, n.] 1. To form or create; especially, to mold or make into a particular form; to give proper form or figure to. I was shapen in iniquity. --Ps. li. 5. Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face. --Prior. 2. To adapt to a purpose; to regulate; to adjust; to direct; as, to shape the course of a vessel. To the stream, when neither friends, nor force, Nor speed nor art avail, he shapes his course. --Denham. Charmed by their eyes, their manners I acquire, And shape my foolishness to their desire. --Prior. 3. To image; to conceive; to body forth. Oft my jealousy Shapes faults that are not. --Shak. 4. To design; to prepare; to plan; to arrange. When shapen was all this conspiracy, From point to point. --Chaucer. Shaping machine. (Mach.) Same as Shaper. To shape one's self, to prepare; to make ready. [Obs.] I will early shape me therefor. --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shape Shape (sh[=a]p), v. i. To suit; to be adjusted or conformable. [R.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shape Shape, n. [OE. shap, schap, AS. sceap in gesceap creation, creature, fr. the root of scieppan, scyppan, sceppan, to shape, to do, to effect; akin to OS. giskeppian, OFries. skeppa, D. scheppen, G. schaffen, OHG. scaffan, scepfen, skeffen, Icer. skapa, skepja, Dan. skabe, skaffe, Sw. skapa, skaffa, Goth. gaskapjan, and perhaps to E. shave, v. Cf. -ship.] 1. Character or construction of a thing as determining its external appearance; outward aspect; make; figure; form; guise; as, the shape of a tree; the shape of the head; an elegant shape. He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman. --Shak. 2. That which has form or figure; a figure; an appearance; a being. Before the gates three sat, On either side, a formidable shape. --Milton. 3. A model; a pattern; a mold. 4. Form of embodiment, as in words; form, as of thought or conception; concrete embodiment or example, as of some quality. --Milton. 5. Dress for disguise; guise. [Obs.] Look better on this virgin, and consider This Persian shape laid by, and she appearing In a Greekish dress. --Messinger. 6. (Iron Manuf.) (a) A rolled or hammered piece, as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar. (b) A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted. To take shape, to assume a definite form.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(shapes, shaping, shaped) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The shape of an object, a person, or an area is the appearance of their outside edges or surfaces, for example whether they are round, square, curved, or fat. Each mirror is made to order and can be designed to almost any shape or size. ...little pens in the shape of baseball bats... ...sofas and chairs of contrasting shapes and colours... The buds are conical or pyramidal in shape... These bras should be handwashed to help them keep their shape... N-COUNT: oft N of n, also in N 2. You can refer to something that you can see as a shape if you cannot see it clearly, or if its outline is the clearest or most striking aspect of it. Lying in bed we often see dark shapes of herons silhouetted against the moon. N-COUNT 3. A shape is a space enclosed by an outline, for example a circle, a square, or a triangle. He suggested that the shapes represented a map of Britain and Ireland. N-COUNT 4. The shape of something that is planned or organized is its structure and character. The last two weeks have seen a lot of talk about the future shape of Europe... N-SING: usu N of n 5. Someone or something that shapes a situation or an activity has a very great influence on the way it develops. Like it or not, our families shape our lives and make us what we are. VERB: V n 6. If you shape an object, you give it a particular shape, using your hands or a tool. Cut the dough in half and shape each half into a loaf. VERB: V n into n 7. see also shaped 8. If you say that something is the shape of things to come, you mean that it is the start of a new trend or development, and in future things will be like this. British Rail says its new Liverpool Street station is the shape of things to come. PHRASE: v-link PHR 9. If you say, for example, that you will not accept something in any shape or form, or in any way, shape or form, you are emphasizing that you will not accept it in any circumstances. I don't condone violence in any shape or form... PHRASE: PHR after v [emphasis] 10. If someone or something is in shape, or in good shape, they are in a good state of health or in a good condition. If they are in bad shape, they are in a bad state of health or in a bad condition. He was still in better shape than many young men... The trees were in bad shape from dry rot. PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR 11. You can use in the shape of to state exactly who or what you are referring to, immediately after referring to them in a general way. The Prime Minister found a surprise ally today in the shape of Jacques Delors, the Commission President... PHRASE: PHR n 12. If you lick, knock, or whip someone or something into shape, you use whatever methods are necessary to change or improve them so that they are in the condition that you want them to be in. You'll have four months in which to lick the recruits into shape... PHRASE: V inflects 13. If something is out of shape, it is no longer in its proper or original shape, for example because it has been damaged or wrongly handled. Once most wires are bent out of shape, they don't return to the original position. PHRASE: PHR after v 14. If you are out of shape, you are unhealthy and unable to do a lot of physical activity without getting tired. = unfit ? fit PHRASE: v-link PHR 15. When something takes shape, it develops or starts to appear in such a way that it becomes fairly clear what its final form will be. In 1912 women's events were added, and the modern Olympic programme began to take shape. PHRASE: V inflects

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shap: In the King James Version the translation of eidos, "form," "appearance" (Lu 3:22; Joh 5:37), and of homoioma, "likeness," "resemblance" (Re 9:7). The meaning of these words is not so much "tangible shape," in which sense we use the word in modern English, but rather "aspect," "appearance," the looks of a thing or a person. This is even the case where the word is joined with the adjective somatikos, "bodily" as in the passage Lu 3:22, "The Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form (i.e. "in a corporeal appearance," the King James Version "in a bodily shape"), as a dove, upon him." The second passage also refers to the "appearance" of God, and cannot therefore be regarded as material shape: "Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form" (the King James Version "shape") (Joh 5:37). As has been seen from the above quotations, the Revised Version (British and American) which retains the translation "shape" for homoioma, has translated eidos with "form," which also serves to render several other Greek synonyms, such as morphe (Mr 16:12; Php 2:6 f), morphosis (Ro 2:20; 2Ti 3:5), tupos (the Revised Version margin "pattern" Ro 6:17), and hupotuposis (the Revised Version (British and American) "pattern," 2Ti 1:13). In the King James Version The Wisdom of Solomon 18:1 "shape" translates morphe, the Revised Version (British and American) "form."

H. L. E. Luering

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Form, create, make, produce. 2. Mould, fashion, model, form. 3. Regulate, adjust, direct, frame. 4. Image, conceive, conjure up, figure, imagine. II. n. 1. Form (with especial reference to what is visible), figure, make, guise, appearance, outward aspect. 2. Figure, being, appearance, form. 3. Mould, model, fashion, cut, pattern, build, cast, form.

Moby Thesaurus

Masan, Platonic form, Platonic idea, accommodate, accommodate with, accord, adapt, adapt to, adjust, adjust to, adjustment, aesthetic form, affect, agree with, anatomy, angle, apparition, appearance, archetype, architectonics, architecture, aroma, arrange, arrangement, art form, aspect, assemble, assimilate to, astral, astral spirit, attribute, bad condition, badge, bake, banshee, be guided by, bend, block out, blood, body, body-build, brand, breed, build, building, cachet, calculate, carve, case, cast, change, character, characteristic, chime in with, chisel, clan, coin, color, complexion, comply, comply with, compose, composition, compound, conceit, conceive, conceptualize, concert, concoct, condition, configuration, conform, conformation, constitution, construct, construction, contours, contrive, control, correct, correspond, create, creation, cut, cut out, decree, define, denomination, departed spirit, description, design, designation, determine, develop, devise, differentia, differential, discipline, disembodied spirit, disguise, distinctive feature, dream up, duppy, dybbuk, earmark, effect, efform, eidolon, elaborate, embody in words, erect, estate, evolve, experience imaginatively, express, extrude, fabric, fabricate, fabrication, facet, fall in with, false image, fancy, fantasize, fantasy, fashion, fashioning, feather, feature, fettle, fictionalize, figuration, figure, fire, fit, fitness, fix, flavor, follow, forecast, forge, forging, form, formalize, format, formation, formulate, found, frame, fudge together, gear to, genre, genus, gestalt, get up, getup, ghost, glaze, go by, good condition, govern, grain, grateful dead, guide, guise, gust, hack, hallmark, hant, harmonize, hatch, haunt, hew, ideate, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, idolum, ilk, image, imagine, imago, immateriality, impress, impression, improve, incorporeal, incorporeal being, incorporeity, index, indite, individualism, influence, inner form, intend, invent, keynote, kidney, kilter, kin, kind, knead, knock out, label, larva, lay out, lay plans, layout, lemures, lick into shape, light, likeness, line, lineaments, lines, look, lot, make, make a projection, make arrangements, make conform, make up, makeup, making, manes, manner, mannerism, manufacture, mark, marking, materialization, materialize, matrix, mature, meet, methodize, mint, mirage, modality, mode, model, modify, mold, molding, mould, nature, number, observe, odor, oni, order, organic structure, organism, organization, organize, originate, particularity, patch together, pattern, patterning, peculiarity, person, persuasion, phantasm, phantasma, phantasmagoria, phantom, phase, phasis, phasm, phenomenon, phylum, physique, piece together, plan, plan ahead, poltergeist, pot, prearrange, prefabricate, prepare, presence, proceed, produce, production, profile, program, progress, project, property, prototype, put, put together, put up, quality, quirk, race, raise, rationalize, rear, reconcile, rectify, reference, regard, regulate, remodel, repair, respect, revenant, rough out, roughcast, rub off corners, run up, savor, schedule, schematize, sculpt, sculpture, seal, seeming, semblance, set, set up, settle, setup, shade, shadow, shape up, shaping, show improvement, shrouded spirit, side, significant form, silhouette, simulacrum, singularity, slant, smack, sort, specialty, species, specter, spectral ghost, spirit, spook, sprite, stamp, state, status, straighten, strain, stripe, structure, structuring, style, suit, suppose, systematize, tailor, taint, take form, take shape, tally with, tang, taste, tectonics, tenor, texture, the like of, the likes of, theophany, thermoform, think up, throw, tissue, token, tone, total effect, trait, tribe, trick, trim, turn, turn a pot, twist, type, unsubstantiality, variety, view, viewpoint, vision, waking dream, walking dead man, wandering soul, warp and woof, way, weave, web, whack, whomp up, wildest dream, wise, word, work, work out, work up, wraith, write, yield, zombie