shanty

Meanings

Noun

• A roughly-built hut or cabin.
• A rudimentary or improvised dwelling, especially one not legally owned.
• An unlicensed pub.
• A song a sailor sings, especially in rhythm to his work.

Adjective

• Living in shanties; poor, ill-mannered and violent.
• Jaunty; showy.

Verb

• To inhabit a shanty.

Origin

• From Canadian French chantier ("lumberjack's headquarters"). An alternative theory that the word derives from sean-tí (meaning "of an old house") is not considered likely by lexicologists.
• New Zealand from 1848.
• From French chantez, imperative of chanter.