shy
/ʃaɪ/ adjective A1- Easily frightened; timid.
- Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach. · He is very shy with strangers.
- Cautious; wary; suspicious.
- Short, insufficient or less than. · By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.· It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
Comparative shier · Superlative shiest
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
“Shy, they seem to put everything upon Bill!
“I’m shy on one word, lady.
Matthew Cuthbert’s father, as shy and silent as his son after him, had got as far away as he possibly could from his fellow men without actually retreating into the woods when he founded his homestead.
So far, the ordinary observer; an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid.
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