shimmery

English

WOTD – 27 February 2022

Etymology

From shimmer +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪməɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪməɹi/, /ˈʃɪmɹi/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: shim‧mery

Adjective

shimmery (comparative more shimmery, superlative most shimmery)

1. (Apparently) shimmering, or shining with a faint, or intermittent or trembling gleam or light.

   Synonyms: ashimmer; see also Thesaurus:shining

   • 1875, E[lizabeth] Lynn Linton, “Truth and Seeming”, in Patricia Kemball. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, page 465:

     He had not known him at first; at least not for certain in the shimmery moonlight; the man he had seen looked younger and of lighter build, he said, and he had not taken him to be his old friend and mate; […]

   • 1883 June, Ralph Iron [pseudonym; Olive Schreiner], “Waldo Goes Out to Sit in the Sunshine”, in The Story of an African Farm, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: H. M. Caldwell Company, →OCLC, part II, page 387:

     There will always be something worth living for while there are shimmery afternoons.

   • 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, “Red Dog”, in The Second Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 187:

     The length of the gorge on both sides was hung as it were with black shimmery velvet curtains, and Mowgli sank as he looked, for those were the clotted millions of the sleeping bees.

   • 1966, Ray Bradbury, “The Trolley”, in S Is for Space, London: Granada Publishing, published 1983, →ISBN, page 221:

     And then, far off, around a curve of silver track, comes the trolley, balanced on four small steel-blue wheels, and it is painted the color of tangerines. Epaulets of shimmery brass cover it and pipings of gold; and its chrome bell bings if the ancient motorman taps it with a wrinkled shoe.

   • 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Arrangers of Marriage”, in The Thing Around Your Neck (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 180:

     […] Aunty Ada would base her prostitute judgment on Nia’s lipstick, a shimmery orange, and the eye shadow—similar to the shade of the lipstick—that clung to her heavy lids.

2. (figuratively) (Apparently) shaking or trembling.
   • 1859, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Quilting”, in The Minister’s Wooing, New York, N.Y.: Derby and Jackson, […], →OCLC, page 446:

     "How is Mrs. Marvyn?" said Mrs. Scudder. / "Kinder thin and shimmery; but she's about,—habin' her eyes eberywar 'n' lookin' into eberyting.["]

Derived terms

• shimmeriness

Translations

(apparently) shimmering, or shining with a faint, or intermittent or trembling gleam or light

• French: chatoyant (fr)

(apparently) shaking or trembling

Further reading

• “shimmery, adj.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2019.

Anagrams

• misrhyme