- a roughly built hut
- See shack up
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
shack1 /ʃæk/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
v. [no object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- a rough cabin;
shanty.
v. [no object]
- shack up, [no object;
often: ~ + up + with + object][Slang.]to live together or with another as sexual partners without being legally married.
shack1
(shak),USA pronunciation n.
v.i.
shack2 (shak),USA pronunciation v.t. [Informal.]
- a rough cabin;
shanty. - [Informal.]See radio shack.
v.i.
- shack up, [Slang.]
- to live together as husband and wife without being legally married.
- to have illicit sexual relations.
- to live in a shack:He's shacked up in the mountains.
- compare earlier shackly rickety, probably akin to ramshackle (Mexican Spanish jacal "hut'' is a phonetically impossible source) 1875–80, American.
shack2 (shak),USA pronunciation v.t. [Informal.]
- Informal Termsto chase and throw back;
to retrieve:to shack a ground ball.
- apparently special use of dialect, dialectal shack to shake 1825–35, American.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
shack /ʃæk/ n
'shack' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):