Dictionary

shifty en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃɪfti/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English shift Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English shifty From shift + -y. Cognate with Dutch schiftig (“loose-fitting, open-textured”).

Meanings

1. Subject to frequent changes in direction.
   • Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand. 1929, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule, New York: Norton, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 145:
   • The Kelsos crowding their horses up against the wagon, bumping it, making things shake inside: everything going shifty, unsteady. 2002, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 17, in The Last Crossing, New York: Grove, page 190:
   • The Helfrich plan is simple and direct, based upon a minute knowledge of Indies waters: to strike & strike again & again at the Japanese supply lines. For most of his naval life, Java-born Admiral Helfrich has done nothing but study war with the Japanese. His Navy was designed for shifty, aggressive action within the narrow East Indian waters. In the first 54 days of war his ships and cooperating Dutch planes sank 54 Japanese vessels. "Ship-a-day Helfrich," the Dutch soon called him. His ideas dominated the enlarging and equipping of Java's main naval base at Surabaya, where heavy cruisers (but not battleships) can be fueled and repaired. For the Helfrich plan to succeed, Surabaya must be held. 1942 February 23, “Dutchman's Chance”, in TIME, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2008:
2. (of a person's eyes) Moving from one object to another; not looking directly and steadily at the person with whom one is speaking.
   • He was thin, unsure of himself, sweet-natured and shifty-eyed; and he was Lata’s favourite. 1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 1.4, p. 10:
   • His tinted glasses were not really opaque, but of a blue kind common enough, nor were the eyes behind them shifty, but regarded me steadily. 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The Head of Cæsar”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown, London: Cassell, published 1928, page 149:
   • 1886, George Manville Fenn, This Man’s Wife, Chapter 3, in Littel’s Living Age, Volume 168, No. 2178, 20 March, 1886, p. 761, […] his quick, shifty eyes turned from the manager to the lethal weapons over the chimney, then to the safe, then to the bank, and Mr. Thickens’s back.
3. (idiomatic, informal) Having the appearance of being dishonest, criminal, or unreliable.
   • He was a shifty character in a seedy bar, and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.
   • ‘I don’t trust him,’ he goes on. ‘He is shifty. He is like a jackal sniffing around, looking for mischief. […]’ 1999, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 23, in Disgrace, New York: Viking, page 208:
4. Resourceful; full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.
   • Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure. 1857, Charles Kingsley, chapter 1, in Two Years Ago, volume 1, Cambridge: Macmillan, page 34:

Forms

Deriveds

unshifty · shiftily · shiftyness · shifty-eyed · shiftiness

Translations (26)

fr fuyant (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · mk ла́жлив (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · it ambiguo (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · it sfuggevole (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · mk изма́мнички (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · bg променлив (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · it volubile (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · it sfuggente (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · mk про́менлив (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · ru изменчивый (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · bg лъжлив (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · bg измамнически (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · da skummel (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · it mutevole (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · it equivoco (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · grc πολύτροπος (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · fr louche (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · sv skum (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · sv lömsk (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · es astuto (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · es despiadado (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · el πονηρός (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · el πανούργος (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · grc πολύτροπος (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable) · ru переменчивый (Subject to frequent changes in direction) · fi epäluotettavan oloinen (Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable)