shoulder – English noun declension

English noun forms of shoulder

Noun: shoulder
Singularshoulder
Pluralshoulders

Sample Sentences

  • The parrot was sitting on Steve's shoulder.
  • But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…]. [1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 4:]
  • With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks. In turn he smiled and also shrugged a shoulder. [1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:]
  • In the firſt Courſe there was a Shoulder of Mutton, cut into an Æquilateral Triangle, a Piece of Beef into a Rhomboides, and a Pudding into a Cycloid. [1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Humours and Dispositions of the Laputians Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 20:]
  • He stopped the car on the shoulder of the highway to change the flat tire.
  • The shoulders are graded and the verges cleared well back to lessen the chances of hitting stray stock. [2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 129:]
  • […]the north-western shoulder of the mountain[…] [1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter III, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 57:]
  • I certainly was not prepared for the cosy nestling valleys that snuggled against the shoulders of the hills; a land where the graystone cottages and farmsteads still prevailed, but where they had taken on something of the softness of their kind in Gloucester and the Cotswolds, and seemed almost like growths of the soil; […]. [1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:]
  • Having thus fully described my improved winnowing machine, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is in the forming of a series of shoulders one above another on the inclined board, forming the bottom of the hopper,... [1847, editorial staff, “Winnowing Machines”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68:]
  • passage[…]in thy ſhoulder do I builde my Seate; [c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 158, column 1:]
  • You see you're going to make it into the safety of the shoulder. It feels like the happiest day of your life. [1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:]
  • For a round-trip journey starting from the UK during the shoulder period (1 April-30 June) […] [1976, Trade and Industry, volume 25, page 270:]
  • the determination of noise-induced disturbances during the shoulder hours and their consequences for the consecutive sleep period [2003, Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 29 June-3 July 2003), page 184:]

Etymology

From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sċuldra, sċuldor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller, Schulder (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”). See: Middle English Nouns 'schuldre', Old English Nouns 'sċuldra', Dutch Nouns 'schouder', German Nouns 'Schulter'.

Verbs referencing "shoulder"

German Nouns Schulter, Danish Nouns skulder.