shack

1
[ shak ]
/ ʃæk /

noun

a rough cabin; shanty.
Informal. radio shack.

Verb Phrases

shack up, Slang.
  1. to live together as spouses without being legally married.
  2. to have illicit sexual relations.
  3. to live in a shack: He's shacked up in the mountains.

Origin of shack

1
1875–80, Americanism; compare earlier shackly rickety, probably akin to ramshackle (Mexican Spanish jacal “hut” is a phonetically impossible source)

British Dictionary definitions for shack up (1 of 3)

shack up

verb

(intr, adverb usually foll by with) slang to live or take up residence, esp with a mistress or lover

British Dictionary definitions for shack up (2 of 3)

shack 1
/ (ʃæk) /

noun

a roughly built hut
Southern African temporary accommodation put together by squatters

verb

See shack up

Word Origin for shack

C19: perhaps from dialect shackly ramshackle, from dialect shack to shake

British Dictionary definitions for shack up (3 of 3)

shack 2
/ (ʃæk) /

verb

Midland English dialect to evade (work or responsibility)

Idioms and Phrases with shack up

shack up

1

Sleep together or live in sexual intimacy without being married. For example, They had been dating for two months and then decided to shack up. [Slang; first half of 1900s]

2

Stay or reside with, as in I'm shacking up with my cousin till I find a place of my own. [Slang; first half of 1900s]