HOW TO PRONOUNCE
shanghai
/ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does shanghai mean?
verb
- To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly
- To press-gang sailors, especially (historical) for shipping or fishing work.
- (slang) To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.
More meanings (11)
verb
- (slang) To transfer a serviceman against their will.
- To commandeer, hijack, or otherwise (usually wrongfully) appropriate a place or thing.
- To hit with a slingshot.
noun
- A kind of dart game in which players are gradually eliminated ("shanghaied"), usually either by failing to reach a certain score in 3 quick throws or during a competition to hit a certain prechosen number and then be the first to hit the prechosen numbers of the other players.
- Synonym of slingshot.
- Alternative letter-case form of shanghai in its various senses derived from the Chinese city.
- (dated) A breed of chicken with large bodies, long legs, and feathered shanks.
- (obsolete) A kind of daub.
- (obsolete) A tall dandy.
proper noun
- A major port city and direct-administered municipality of China, the largest urban area in China.
- A major international port including the eastern coast of Shanghai Municipality and the northeastern islands of Zhejiang Province.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈʃæŋ.haɪ/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Other dictionary pronunciations
/ʃæŋˈhaɪ//ʃɑŋˈhaɪ//ˈʃɛŋhaɪ//ʃaŋˈhaɪ/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Ferguson, however, describes how a quarrelsome hen was subdued by the gentle courtship of a Shanghai cock.
On the barnyard gate the old Shanghai was lustily challenging to mortal combat one of his kind three miles across country.
More book examples (3)
Fine teas then paid the grower, say, eight cents a pound, but the English merchants in Shanghai paid thirty cents for the same teas.
The next morning at dawn they espied the coast, and John Bunsby was able to assert that they were not one hundred miles from Shanghai.
A few weeks before this chapter was written a number of men of different nationalities were punished for being present at a cockfight in Shanghai.