shrug

From Middle English schruggen, shrukken, probably of North Germanic origin related to Danish skrugge, skrukke (“to stoop; crouch”), Swedish skruga, skrukka (“to huddle; crouch”), all from or related to Old Norse skrykkva, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Compare also Old English scrincan (“to shrink”). More at shrink.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʃɹʌɡ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

shrug (plural shrugs)

1. A lifting of the shoulders to signal indifference or a casual lack of knowledge.

   He dismissed my comment with a shrug.

2. A cropped, cardigan-like garment with short or long sleeves, typically knitted.

shrug (third-person singular simple present shrugs, present participle shrugging, simple past and past participle shrugged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To raise (the shoulders) to express uncertainty, lack of concern, (formerly) dread, etc.

   I asked him for an answer and he just shrugged.

   When he saw the problem, he just shrugged and started fixing it.

   • 1712 January 13 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “WEDNESDAY, January 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 264; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     He […] shrugs his shoulders when you talk of securities.

• ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Rughs