Dictionary

shim en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ʃɪm/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860.

Meanings

1. A wedge.
2. A thin piece of material, sometimes tapered, used for alignment or support.
   • The second adjustment [to a door that keeps swinging open] will require the screws to be loosened, and a shim or packing piece pushed behind the hinge to bring it into line. 2016 January 30, Jeff Howell, “Swinging doors: it's not open and shut”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property), page 15:
   • Near-synonym: shimstock (uncountable)
3. A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes.
   • Shims intercept Win32 API calls from legacy applications, as defined by system administrators, and then modify the call before passing the code to Windows for execution. 2010, Russell Smith, Least Privilege Security for Windows 7, Vista and XP:
4. A kind of shallowly cutting plow used in tillage to break the ground and clear it of weeds.
5. A small metal device used to pick open a lock.
6. (qualifier:crime) A thin device inserted into a card reader by a criminal to facilitate fraud.

Forms

Coordinates

scuffler · cultivator · grubber · scarifier

Deriveds

shimless

Synonyms

shimmer · shimstock · slim jim

Translations (34)

de Distanzstück (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Ausgleichsblech (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Unterlage (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · mi tahatiti (wedge) · mi tūauau (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr espaceur (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · bg тру́пче (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · ms penyendal (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr cale (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr sarcloir (shallow plow used in tillage) · de Beilagescheibe (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · es espaciador (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Ausgleichsstück (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Zwischenstück (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · ms sendal (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr étai (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr coin (wedge) · de Unterlegscheibe (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · ms sesendal (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Abstandsblech (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Klemmstück (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Dietrich (small metal device to pick a lock) · de Beilagscheibe (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr thibaude (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Futterholz (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Keil (wedge) · de Passstück (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · ms syim (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Abstandhalter (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · fr cale d'épaisseur (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · bg клин (wedge) · bg шайба (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · de Futterblech (thin piece of material used for alignment or support) · ru регулировочная прокладка (thin piece of material used for alignment or support)

wikidata: Q131408 · wikipedia: Kent · wikidata: Q21718894 · wikidata: Q240815

shim en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ʃɪm/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Unknown; from Kent. Originally a piece of iron attached to a plow; sense of “thin piece of wood” from 1723, sense of “thin piece of material used for alignment or support” from 1860.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To fit one or more shims to a piece of machinery or other assembly; to adjust (something) by using shims.
2. To adjust the homogeneity of a magnetic field (after the mechanical devices once used for the purpose).
3. (transitive) To intercept and modify calls to (an API), usually for compatibility purposes.
4. (ambitransitive) To attack a point-of-sale card reader with a shim.

Forms

Deriveds

shimmer · shimmable · shimming

Translations (1)

bg нивели́рам (adjust by using shims)

wikipedia: Kent

shim en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ʃɪm/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Blend of she + him.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, informal, often) A transsexual person, especially a trans woman; (loosely) a drag queen or transvestite.
   • Yes Maam, or Sir or just what / how do you address a shim? 2004 July 26, grdog, “Wisdom of Great Leaders”, in alt.bitch.pork (Usenet):
   • "We call him shim— short for 'she-him.' 1995 May 30, The Advocate, page 11:
   • He — or "Shim" (she/him), as film director John Waters called the actor Divine — was as much a paradoxical as a perverse fellow. 1998, The Seneca review, Hobart Student Association:
2. (derogatory, informal, often) A person characterised by both male and female traits, or by ambiguous male-female traits; a hermaphrodite.
   • […] that I was a hermaphrodite, and that things would probably be getting much, much worse as other "parts" of me began to grow manly and I made the full transformation into a "shim." 2009, Laurie Notaro, The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 89:

Forms

Relateds

shis · shim-pua marriage

Synonyms

he-she

Translations (3)

de Transsexuelle (transsexual person) · de Transsexueller (transsexual person) · de Transe (transsexual person)