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Glite Dictionary
🦵 Front lower leg 🔤 Hebrew letter 🥩 A meat cut 🧗 To climb awkwardly 🤕 To hit your leg
to shin

to shin

7.7
To climb up or down something using your hands and shins for support
  • verb
  • /ʃɪn/
  • UK
translation icon : trepar
  • To shin up the pole, she wrapped her arms around it and pushed with her legs.

Examples

  • He carefully shins down the tall ladder, making sure to use his hands for balance.

  • Sonny shins down a pipe as niftily as a spider monkey!

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The kids were excited to shin down the slide at the playground, laughing as they went.

Synonyms

to climb up
vsto shin
127 1.0

To move up using hands and feet, often with effort

is more specific, involving awkward support with the lower leg
to scramble
vsto shin
118 3.2

Climb quickly using your hands and feet on steep or rough ground

is usually slower and not quick
to clamber
vsto shin
19 5.6

To climb awkwardly using hands and feet

uses the lower leg rather than feet for support
to shinny
vsto shin
  • Informal
1 9.3

To climb something by holding on with your hands and legs

uses the lower leg for support instead of mainly grasping

Compounds

shin splints
  • Specialized
2 3.9

Pain along the front of the lower leg, often caused by running or other exercise

shin guard
  • US
2 2.5

A hard pad worn over the front of the lower leg to protect the shin

shin bone
1 2.5

The large inner bone in the lower leg from knee to ankle

shin bone
  • UK
4.2

A cut of meat from the lower leg often used for stews

How Awkward

to shin
  • UK
7.7
to scramble
118 3.2
to clamber
19 5.6
to climb
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

shin infinitive
shinned past
shinned past participle
shinning present participle
shins third person singular

Etymology

Shin as a verb (to climb) comes from the idea of using your shin to push or hold while getting up, so to 'shin up' a wall or tree is to climb awkwardly using your legs and shins.