shoulder

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The joint connecting the arm with the torso.
2. n. The part of the human body between the neck and upper arm.
3. n. The joint of a vertebrate animal that connects the forelimb to the trunk.
4. n. The part of an animal near this joint.
5. n. The part of a bird's wing between the wrist and the trunk.
6. n. The area of the back from one shoulder to the other. Often used in the plural.
7. n. A cut of meat including the joint of the foreleg and adjacent parts.
8. n. The portion of a garment that covers the shoulder.
9. n. An angled or sloping part, as:
10. n. The angle between the face and flank of a bastion in a fortification.
11. n. The area between the body and neck of a bottle or vase.
12. n. The area of an item or object that serves as an abutment or surrounds a projection, as:
13. n. The end surface of a board from which a tenon projects.
14. n. Printing The flat surface on the body of type that extends beyond the letter or character.
15. n. The edge or border running on either side of a roadway.
16. v. To carry or place (a burden, for example) on the shoulders.
17. v. To take on; assume: shouldered the blame for his friends.
18. v. To push or apply force to, with or as if with the shoulder.
19. v. To make (one's way) by or as if by shoving obstacles with one's shoulders.
20. v. To push with the shoulders.
21. v. To make one's way by or as if by shoving obstacles with one's shoulders.
22. idiom. put (one's) shoulder to the wheel To apply oneself vigorously; make a concentrated effort.
23. idiom. shoulder to shoulder In close proximity; side by side.
24. idiom. shoulder to shoulder In close cooperation.
25. idiom. straight from the shoulder Delivered directly from the shoulder. Used of a punch.
26. idiom. straight from the shoulder Honestly; candidly.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A part of the body at the side and back of the bottom of the neck, and at the side and top of the chest; collectively, the parts about the scapula or blade-bone; the scapular region, including both bony and soft parts; especially, in man, the lateral prominence of these parts, where the upper arm-bone is articulated, having as its bony basis the united ends of the collar-bone and the blade-bone, overlaid by the mass of the deltoid muscle. See also cut under shoulder-blade.
2. n. Figuratively, sustaining power; strength to support burdens: as, to take the work or the blame on one's own shoulders.
3. n. The shoulder-joint.
4. n. The parts of an animal corresponding to the shoulder of man, including some other parts, and sometimes the whole, fore quarter of an animal: thus, a shoulder of mutton includes parts of the neck, chest, and foreleg.
5. n. In ornithology, the carpal joint, or wrist-joint, of a bird's wing; the bend of the wing, which, when the wing is folded, fits against the shoulder proper, and appears in the place of this. The distinctively shaded or white parts which show in the cuts under Agelæinæ and sea-eagle are the shoulders in this sense.
6. n. Some part projecting like a shoulder; specifically, in anatomy, the tuberculum of a rib, separated from the head by the neck, and usually articulating with the transverse process of a vertebra. See tuberculum, and cut under rib.
7. n. A prominent or projecting part below the top; a rounded projection: as, the shoulder of a hill: especially, a projection on an object to oppose or limit motion or form an abutment; a horizontal or rectangular projection from the body of a thing.
8. n. Specifically— The butting-ring on the axle of a vehicle.
9. n. The projection of a lamp-chimney just below the contraction or neck.
10. n. In carpentry, the finished end of a tenoned rail or mullion; the part from which the tenon projects, and which fits close against the piece in which the mortise is cut. See cut under mortise.
11. n. In printing, the projection at the top of the shank of a type beyond the face of the letter. See cut under type.
12. n. In archery, the broadest part of a barbed arrow-head; the width across the barbs, or from the shaft to the extremity of one of the barbs.
13. n. The upper part of the blade of a sword.
14. n. In a vase, jug, bottle, etc., the projection below the neck.
15. n. In a knife, the enlarged part between the tang and the blade.
16. n. In angling, a feather to the body of an artificial fly.
17. n. The back part of a sail.
18. n. A projecting edge or ridge; a bur.
19. n. In fortification, the angle of a bastion included between the face and the flank. Also called shoulder-angle. See cut under bastion.
20. n. In the leather-trade, a name given to tanned or curried hides and kips.
21. n. In entomology:
22. n. One of the humeri or front upper corners of an insect's thorax: but in Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera the term generally denotes the upper front angles of the wing-covers.
23. n. A shoulder-moth.
24. To push or thrust with the shoulder energetically or with violence.
25. To take upon the shoulder or shoulders: as, to shoulder a basket; specifically (military), to carry vertically or nearly so, as a musket in one hand and resting against the arm and the hollow of the shoulder, the exact position varying in different countries and at different times.
26. To form a shoulder or abutment on, by cutting or casting, as in a shaft or a beam.
27. To push forward, as with the shoulder foremost; force one's way by or as if by using the shoulder, as through a crowd.
28. n. In horticulture, the squared or expanded base of a bunch of grapes, usually produced by an extra branch in the cluster.

Wiktionary

1. n. anatomy The joint between the arm and the torso, sometimes including the surrounding area.
2. n. A part of a road where drivers may stop in an emergency; a hard shoulder.
3. n. A cut of meat comprised of the upper joint of the foreleg and the surrounding muscle.
4. n. The portion of a garment where the shoulder is clothed.
5. n. The portion of a hill or mountain just below the peak.
6. n. The lateral protrusion of a hill or mountain.
7. n. printing The flat portion of type that is below the bevelled portion that joins up with the face.
8. n. music The rounded portion of stringed instrument where the neck joins the body.
9. n. The rounded portion of a bottle where the neck meets the body.
10. v. transitive To push (a person or thing) using one's shoulder.
11. v. transitive To carry (something) on one's shoulders.
12. v. figuratively, transitive To accept responsibility for.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Anat.) See under Pectoral, and Pelvic.
2. n. (Anat.) The joint, or the region of the joint, by which the fore limb is connected with the body or with the shoulder girdle; the projection formed by the bones and muscles about that joint.
3. n. The flesh and muscles connected with the shoulder joint; the upper part of the back; that part of the human frame on which it is most easy to carry a heavy burden; -- often used in the plural.
4. n. Fig.: That which supports or sustains; support.
5. n. That which resembles a human shoulder, as any protuberance or projection from the body of a thing.
6. n. The upper joint of the fore leg and adjacent parts of an animal, dressed for market.
7. n. (Fort.) The angle of a bastion included between the face and flank. See Illust. of Bastion.
8. n. An abrupt projection which forms an abutment on an object, or limits motion, etc., as the projection around a tenon at the end of a piece of timber, the part of the top of a type which projects beyond the base of the raised character, etc.
9. v. To push or thrust with the shoulder; to push with violence; to jostle.
10. v. To take upon the shoulder or shoulders; ; hence, to assume the burden or responsibility of
11. v. To push with the shoulder; to make one's way, as through a crowd, by using the shoulders; to move swaying the shoulders from side to side.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a ball-and-socket joint between the head of the humerus and a cavity of the scapula
2. v. carry a burden, either real or metaphoric
3. v. lift onto one's shoulders
4. n. a narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road
5. n. the part of a garment that covers or fits over the shoulder
6. n. a cut of meat including the upper joint of the foreleg
7. n. the part of the body between the neck and the upper arm
8. v. push with the shoulders