Dictionary

shay en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʃeɪ/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

A back-formation from chaise (originally from French), with the /z/ of that word taken as the plural ending -s.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A chaise.
   • The poſt-ſhay ſhall be at the door by ſix o'clock in the morning; and if Miſs Fanny does not get into it, vvhy I vvill, and ſo there's an end of the matter. 1766, George Colman, David Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage, a Comedy. […], London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […]; R[oberts] Baldwin, […]; R. Davis, […]; and T[homas] Davies, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 57:
   • Master sent me over with the shay-cart, to carry your luggage up to the house. He’d ha’ sent some saddle-horses, but he thought you’d rather walk, being a cold day. 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter XXVIII, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

Forms