shanghai

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌʃæŋˈhaɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/, /ˌʃæŋˈhaɪ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -aɪ

From Chinese 上海 (Shànghǎi, “Shanghai”), with reference to the former practice of forcibly crewing ships heading for the Orient.

shanghai (third-person singular simple present shanghais, present participle shanghaiing, simple past and past participle shanghaied)

1. (transitive) To force or trick (someone) into joining a ship which is lacking a full crew.
   • 1999 June 24, ‘The Resurrection of Tom Waits’, in Rolling Stone, quoted in Innocent When You Dream, Orion (2006), page 256,

     It was the strangest galley: the sounds, the steam, he's screaming at his coworkers. I felt like I'd been shanghaied.

2. (transitive) To abduct or coerce.
   • 1974 September 30, ‘Final Report on the Activities of the Children of God',

     Oftentimes the approach is to shanghai an unsuspecting victim.

   • 1985, Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale,

     Their power had a flaw to it. They could be shanghaied in toilets.

3. (transitive, US) To trick (a person) into entering a jurisdiction where they can lawfully be arrested.
4. (transitive) To commandeer; appropriate; hijack

   Let's see if we can shanghai a room for a couple of hours.

• (force or trick someone into joining a ship; abduct or coerce): press-gang

shanghai (plural shanghais)

1. (US, archaic) A tall dandy.

From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.[1]

shanghai (plural shanghais)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A slingshot.
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 206:

     They scrounged around the camp […] and held out their filthy wings to the feeble sun, making themselves an easy target for Charles's shanghai.