shy

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Easily startled; timid.
2. adj. Drawing back from contact or familiarity with others; retiring or reserved.
3. adj. Marked by reserve or diffidence: a shy glance.
4. adj. Distrustful; wary: shy of strangers.
5. adj. Not having paid an amount due, as one's ante in poker.
6. adj. Short; lacking: Eleven is one shy of a dozen.
7. v. To move suddenly, as if startled; start.
8. v. To draw back, as from fear or caution; recoil.
9. n. A sudden movement, as from fright; a start.
10. v. To throw (something) with a swift motion; fling.
11. v. To throw something with a swift motion.
12. n. A quick throw; a fling.
13. n. Informal A gibe; a sneer.
14. n. Informal An attempt; a try.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Readily frightened away; easily startled; skittish; timid.
2. Shrinking from familiarity or self-assertive-ness; sensitively timid; retiring; bashful; coy.
3. Keeping away from some person or thing through timidity or caution; fearful of approaching; disposed to avoid: followed by of.
4. Cautious; wary; careful: commonly followed by of or about.
5. Elusive; hard to find, get at, obtain, or accomplish.
6. Morally circumspect; scrupulous.
7. Keen; piercing; bold; sharp.
8. Sly; sharp; cunning.
9. Scant. The wind is said to be shy when it will barely allow a vessel to sail on her course.
10. Synonyms Diffident, shamefaced. See bashfulness.
11. To shrink or start back or aside, as in sudden fear: said specifically of a horse.
12. To avoid; shun (a person).
13. n. A sudden start aside, as from fear, especially one made by a horse.
14. To fling; throw; jerk; toss.
15. To throw off; toss or send out at random.
16. To throw a missile; specifically, to jerk.
17. n. A quick, jerking, or careless throw; a fling.
18. n. A fling; a sneer; a gibe.
19. n. A trial; an experiment.
20. Hence, in general, to lack; be short of: as, to be shy four dollars.
21. n. In cricket, a ball thrown instead of bowled.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Easily frightened; timid.
2. adj. Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
3. adj. Cautious; wary; suspicious.
4. adj. Short, insufficient or less than.
5. adj. Embarrassed.
6. v. intransitive To avoid due to timidness or caution.
7. v. intransitive To jump back in fear.
8. v. transitive to throw a ball or other missile at a target
9. n. An act of throwing.
10. n. A place for throwing.
11. n. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Easily frightened; timid.
2. adj. Reserved; coy; disinclined to familiar approach.
3. adj. Cautious; wary; suspicious.
4. adj. Slang Inadequately supplied; short; lacking.
5. adj. (Poker), Slang owing money to the pot; -- in cases where an opponent's bet has exceeded a player's available stake or chips, but the player chooses to continue playing the hand before adding the required bet to the pot.
6. v. To start suddenly aside through fright or suspicion; -- said especially of horses.
7. v. To throw sidewise with a jerk; to fling.
8. n. A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
9. n. A side throw; a throw; a fling.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. lacking self-confidence
2. adj. short.
3. n. a quick throw
4. adj. wary and distrustful; disposed to avoid persons or things
5. v. start suddenly, as from fright
6. v. throw quickly