Online Etymology Dictionary

shrapnel (n.): 1806, from Gen. Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), who invented a type of exploding, fragmenting shell when he was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Peninsular War. The invention consisted of a hollow cannon ball, filled with shot, which burst in mid-air; his name for it was spherical case ammunition. Sense of "shell fragments" is first recorded 1940. The surname is attested from 13c., and is believed to be a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a diminutive form of Old French charbon "charcoal," in reference to complexion, hair color, or some other quality.
shred (v.): Old English screadian "prune, cut," common Germanic (cf. Middle Dutch scroden, Dutch schroeien, Old High German scrotan, German schroten "to shred"), from root of shred (n.). Related: Shredded; shredding. Shredded wheat is recorded fron 1885.
shred (n.): Old English screade "piece cut off," from West Germanic *skraudas (cf. Middle Low German schrot "piece cut off," Old High German scrot, "a cutting, piece cut off," German Schrot "small shot," Old Norse skrydda "shriveled skin"), from PIE root *skreu- "to cut, cutting tool" (cf. Latin scrutari "to search, examine," from scruta "trash, frippery;" Old English scrud "dress, garment;" see shroud (n.)).
shredder (n.): 1570s, agent noun from shred (v.). In the paper disposal sense from 1950.
shrew (n.): small mammal, Old English screawa "shrew-mouse," unknown outside English, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skreu- "to cut" (see shred (n.)). Alternative Old English word for it was scirfemus, from sceorfan "to gnaw." The meaning "peevish, malignant, clamorous, spiteful, vexatious, turbulent woman" [Johnson] is late 14c., from earlier sense of "spiteful person" (male or female), mid-13c., traditionally said to derive from some supposed malignant influence of the animal, which was once believed to have a venomous bite and was held in superstitious dread (cf. beshrew).
shrewd (adj.): c.1300, "wicked, evil," from shrewe "wicked man" (see shrew). Cf. crabbed from crab, dogged from dog, wicked from witch. The sense of "cunning" is first recorded 1510s. Related: Shrewdly; shrewdness.
shrewish (adj.): late 14c., "wicked, malignant," from shrew + -ish. Of women, from 1560s. Related: Shrewishly; shrewishness.
Shrewsbury: has one of the most complex developments of English place names and illustrates the changes wrought in Old English words by Anglo-Norman scribes who could not pronounce them. Recorded 1016 as Scrobbesbyrig, it originally may have meant "the fortified place in (a district called) The Scrub." The initial consonant cluster was impossible for the scribes, who simplified it to sr-, then added a vowel (sar-) to make it easier still.

The name was also changed by Anglo-Norman loss or metathesis of liquids in words containing -l-, -n-, or -r- (also evident in the derivatives of Old French Berengier "bear-spear" -- Old High German Beringar -- name of one of the paladins in the Charlemagne romances and a common given name in England 12c. and 13c., which has come down in surnames as Berringer, Bellanger, Benger, etc.). Thus Sarop- became Salop- and in the 12c. and 13c. the overwhelming spelling in government records was Salopesberie, which accounts for the abbreviation Salop for the modern county.

During all this, the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants (as opposed to the French scribes) still pronounced it properly, and regular sound evolutions probably produced a pronunciation something like Shrobesbury (which turns up on a 1327 patent roll). After a predictable -b- to -v- (a vowel in the Middle Ages) to -u- shift, the modern spelling begins to emerge 14c. and is fully established 15c.
shriek (v.): c.1200, scrycke, from Old Norse skrækja "to screech" (see screech), probably of imitative origin. The noun is attested from 1590. Related: Shrieked; shrieking.
shrift (n.): Old English scrift "confession to priest, followed by penance and absolution," verbal noun from scrifan "to impose penance" (see shrive). Short shrift originally was the brief time for a condemned criminal to confess before execution (1590s); figurative extension to "little or no consideration" is first attested 1814.
shrike (n.): Old English scric "thrush," literally "bird with a shrill call," probably echoic of its cry and related to shriek (cf. Old Norse skrikja "shrieker, shrike").
shrill (adj.): late 14c., schrylle "high-pitched, piercing" (of the voice), probably related to Old English scralletan "to sound loudly," of imitative origin (cf. Low German schrell, German schrill "piercing, shrill"). The verb sense of "to sound shrilly" is recorded from c.1300.
shrimp (n.): early 14c., "kind of slender shellfish," probably from Old Norse skreppa "thin person," from Proto-Germanic *skrempanan (see scrimp). Related to Old English scrimman "to shrink." The connecting notion is probably "thinness" (cf. Danish dialectal skrimpe "thin cattle"). The meaning "puny person" in English is attested from late 14c.
shrine (n.): Old English scrin "ark of the covenant, case for relics," from Latin scrinium "case or box for keeping papers," of unknown origin. A Shriner (1884) is a member of the Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (est. 1872).
shrink (v.): Old English scrincan (class III strong verb; past tense scranc, past participle scruncen), from Proto-Germanic *skrenkanan (cf. Middle Dutch schrinken), probably from PIE root *(s)ker- "to turn, bend." Originally with causal shrench (cf. drink/drench). The meaning "draw back, recoil" (c.1300) perhaps was suggested by the behavior of snails. Shrink-wrap is attested from 1961.
shrink (n.): "psychiatrist," slang, first recorded 1966, from head-shrinker.
shrinkage (n.): 1800, from shrink (v.) + -age.
shrive (v.): Old English scrifan "assign, decree, impose penance," from West Germanic *skriban (cf. Old Saxon scriban, Old Dutch scrivan, Dutch schrijven "to write;" Old Norse skrjpt "penance, confession"), an early borrowing from Latin scribere "to write" (see script).
shrivel (v.): 1560s (implied in shriveled), of unknown origin, perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. Swedish skryvla "to wrinkle, to shrivel").
Shropshire: shortened form of the old spelling of Shrewsbury + shire.
shroud (n.): Old English scrud "a garment, clothing," from West Germanic *skruthan, from Proto-Germanic *skrud- "cut" (cf. Old Norse skruð "shroud of a ship," Danish, Swedish skrud "dress, attire"), variant of *skreud- "to cut," related to Old English screade (see shred (n.)). Meaning "cloth or sheet for burial" first attested 1560s.
shroud (v.): c.1300, "to clothe," from shroud (n.). Meaning "to hide from view, conceal" (transitive) is attested from early 15c. Related: Shrouded; shrouding.
shrove (n.): 1570s, shortened from Shrovetide (early 15c.), from schrof-, related to schrifen (see shrive). Shrove Tuesday (c.1500) is from practice of celebration and merrymaking before going to confession at the beginning of Lent.
shrub (n.): Old English scrybb "brushwood, shrubbery," a rare and late word, possibly from a Scandinavian source (cf. dialectal Danish skrub "brushwood," Norwegian skrubba "dwarf tree"). Presumably related to North Frisian skrobb "broom plant, brushwood;" West Flemish schrobbe "climbing wild pea."
shrubbery (n.): 1748, from shrub + -ery.
shrug (n.): 1590s, from shrug (v.).
shrug (v.): c.1400, schurgyng, of uncertain origin. Perhaps connected to Danish skrugge "to stoop, crouch." Related: Shrugged; shrugging. To shrug (something) off "dismiss" is recorded from 1909.
shtetl (n.): small Jewish town or village in Eastern Europe, 1949, from Yiddish, literally "little town," from diminutive of German Stadt "city, town," from Old High German stat "place," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).
shtick: also schtick, 1959, from Yiddish shtik "an act, gimmick," literally "a piece, slice," from Middle High German stücke "piece, play," from Old High German stucki (see stock (n.1)).
shtup (v.): "annoy," 1952; "have sexual intercourse with," 1967; from Yiddish, literally "push, shove," related to dialectal German stupfen "to nudge, jog."
shuck (v.): 1819, "to remove the shucks from," Many extended senses are from the notion of "stripping" an ear of corn, or from the capers associated with husking frolics; e.g. "to strip (off) one's clothes" (1848) and "to deceive, swindle, cheat, fool" (1959); phrase shucking and jiving "fooling, deceiving" is suggested from 1966, in U.S. black English, but cf. shuck (v.) a slang term among "cool musicians" for "to improvise chords, especially to a piece of music one does not know" (1957), and shuck (n.) "a theft or fraud," in use by 1950s among U.S. blacks.
[B]lack senses probably fr[om] the fact that black slaves sang and shouted gleefully during corn-shucking season, and this behavior, along with lying and teasing, became a part of the protective and evasive behavior normally adopted towards white people in "traditional" race relations; the sense of "swindle" is perhaps related to the mid-1800s term to be shucked out, "be defeated, be denied victory," which suggests that the notion of stripping someone as an ear of corn is stripped may be basic in the semantics. ["Dictionary of American Slang"]
shuck (n.): "husk, pod, shell," 1670s, American English, of unknown origin. Later used in reference to the shells of oysters and clams (1872).
shucks (interj.): 1847, from shuck (n.) in the secondary sense "something valueless" (i.e. not worth shucks).
shudder (v.): early 14c., possibly from Middle Dutch schuderen "to shudder," or Middle Low German schoderen, both from Proto-Germanic *skud-. Related: Shuddered; shuddering. The noun is from c.1600.
shuffle (v.): 1530s, probably from Middle English shovelen "to move with dragging feet," probably a frequentative form of shoven (see shove). Or perhaps from Low German schuffeln "to walk clumsily, deal dishonestly." Of playing cards, first recorded 1560s. Related: Shuffled; shuffling.
shuffle (n.): 1620s, from shuffle (v.). Phrase lost in the shuffle is from 1930.
shuffleboard (n.): 1530s, shovillaborde "shovel board," an unexplained alteration of shove-board (1520s), from shove + board (n.1). Originally a tabletop game (c.1600), the large-scale version (1877) was invented for play on ocean liners.
shul (n.): "synagogue," 1874, from Yiddish shul, from German Schule (see school).
shun (v.): Old English scunian "to shun, desist, to hide," of uncertain origin; not found in any other language. Perhaps ultimately from PIE root *skeu- "to cover, to hide." Related: Shunned; shunning.
shunt (v.): early 13c., perhaps from shunen "to shun" (see shun). Adopted by railways from 1842. Related: Shunted; shunting.
shunt (n.): 1862, in railway use, from shunt (v.). By technicians in the sense of "electrical conductor" from 1863. Medical use dates from 1923.
shush (v.): 1905, imitative of the command to be quiet.
shut (v.): Old English scyttan "to put in place so as to fasten a door or gate," from West Germanic *skutjanan (cf. Old Frisian schetta, Middle Dutch schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from Proto-Germanic *skut- "project" (see shoot). Meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. Sense of "to set (someone) free (from)" (c.1500) is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as to get shut of. To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from mid-14c. Shut up (v.) first recorded 1840.
shut-eye (n.): colloquial for "sleep," 1899, from shut (v.) + eye (n.). Andersen's "Ole Shut-eye" about a being who makes children sleepy, came out 1842; "The Shut-Eye Train" popular children's poem by Eugene Field, is from 1896.
shut-in (n.): "person confined from normal social intercourse," 1904, from shut (v.) + in (adv.).
shutdown (n.): also shut-down, 1884, of factories, etc.;” 1911 of machines; from shut (v.) + down (adv.).
shute (n.): 1790, "channel, trough," dialectal combination of chute and shoot.
shutout (n.): also shut out, 1889 in baseball sense, from verbal phrase shut out (1881 in baseball), from shut (v.) + out (adv.). Middle English had a verb outshut "to shut out, exclude," mid-15c.
shutter (v.): 1826, from shutter (n.). Related: Shuttered; shuttering.
shutter (n.): 1540s, "one who shuts" (see shut (v.)); meaning "moveable wooden or iron screen for a window" is from 1680s. Photographic sense of "device for opening and closing the aperture of a lens" is from 1862.