English
shine
Pronunciation
  • (America, British) enPR: shīn, IPA: /ʃaɪn/, /ʃaːɪn/
Verb

shine (shines, present participle shining; past and past participle shone)

  1. (intransitive) To emit light.
  2. (intransitive) To reflect light.
  3. (intransitive) To distinguish oneself; to excel.
    • 1867, Frederick William Robinson, No Man's Friend, Harper & Brothers, page 91 ↗:
      “ […] I was grateful to you for giving him a year’s schooling—where he shined at it—and for putting him as a clerk in your counting-house, where he shined still more.”
      It prompted an exchange of substitutions as Jermain Defoe replaced Palacios and Javier Hernandez came on for Berbatov, who had failed to shine against his former club.
    My nephew tried other sports before deciding on football, which he shone at right away, quickly becoming the star of his school team.
  4. (intransitive) To be effulgent in splendour or beauty.
    • So proud she shined in her princely state.
    • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify )”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. In Three Books, Dublin; London: Reprinted for A. Dodd, OCLC 1033416756 ↗:
      {quote-meta/quote
  5. (intransitive) To be eminent, conspicuous, or distinguished; to exhibit brilliant intellectual powers.
    • c. 1713, Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects
      Few are qualified to shine in company; but it in most men's power to be agreeable.
  6. (intransitive) To be immediately apparent.
  7. (transitive) To create light with (a flashlight, lamp, torch, or similar).
    • 2007, David Lynn Goleman, Legend: An Event Group Thriller, St. Martin’s Press (2008), ISBN 0-312-94594-9, page 318 ↗:
      As Jenks shined the large spotlight on the water, he saw a few bubbles and four long wakes leading away from an expanding circle of blood.
    I shone my light into the darkness to see what was making the noise.
  8. (transitive) To cause to shine, as a light.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature
      He [God] doth not rain wealth, nor shine honour and virtues, upon men equally.
  9. (US, transitive) To make bright; to cause to shine by reflected light.
    in hunting, to shine the eyes of a deer at night by throwing a light on them
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: alumbrar
Noun

shine

  1. Brightness from a source of light.
    • the distant shine of the celestial city
  2. Brightness from reflected light.
  3. Excellence in quality or appearance; splendour.
  4. Shoeshine.
  5. Sunshine.
    • be it fair or foul, or rain or shine
  6. (slang) Moonshine; illicitly brewed alcoholic drink.
  7. (cricket) The amount of shininess on a cricket ball, or on each side of the ball.
  8. (slang) A liking for a person; a fancy.
    She's certainly taken a shine to you.
  9. (archaic, slang) A caper; an antic; a row.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Brillanz, Glanz, Bravour
  • Portuguese: esplendor
  • Russian: блеск
Verb

shine (shines, present participle shining; past and past participle shined)

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to shine; put a shine on (something); polish (something).
    He shined my shoes until they were polished smooth and gleaming.
  2. (transitive, cricket) To polish a cricket ball using saliva and one’s clothing.
Synonyms Translations
Shine
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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