Advertisement
shyster (n.)"unscrupulous lawyer," 1843, U.S. slang, probably altered from German Scheisser "incompetent worthless person," from Scheisse "shit" (n.), from Old High German skizzan "to defecate" (see shit (v.)).
Related entries & more Advertisement
shite (n.)
Related entries & more colloquial modern alternative spelling of shit (n.), attested by c. 1740, preserving the original vowel length of the Old English verb.
shitten (adj.)late 14c., past-participle adjective from shit (v.). From 1540s in transferred sense of "very unpleasant."
Related entries & more Advertisement
bullshit (n.)
Related entries & more also bull shit, "eloquent and insincere rhetoric," 1914, American English slang; see bull (n.1) + shit (n.), probably because it smells. But bull in the sense of "trivial or false statements" (1914), which usually is associated with this, might be a continuation of Middle English bull "false talk, fraud" (see bull (n.3)).
batshit also bat-shit, by 1967 as a variant of bullshit (n.) in the slang sense; from bat (n.2) + shit (n.). By early 1980s as "crazy," the sense shift is for uncertain reasons; perhaps from the notion of guano as an explosive or health problems caused by inhaling powdered bat feces in caves and mines. Also compare batty "crazy" (early 20c.), from the expression bats in (one's) belfry.
Related entries & more S.O.L.
Related entries & more initialism (acronym) from shit out of luck (though sometimes euphemised), 1917, World War I military slang. "Applicable to everything from death to being late for mess" [Russell Lord, "Captain Boyd's Battery, A.E.F.," c. 1920]
skite (n.)"contemptible person," 1790, Scottish and Northern, earlier "sudden stroke or blow" (1785), perhaps from Old Norse skyt-, from skjota "to shoot" (see shoot (v.)). Old Norse skita "to shit" might have had some influence on the sense of the English word.
Related entries & more gore (n.1)"thick, clotted blood," Old English gor "dirt, dung, filth, shit," a Germanic word (cognates: Middle Dutch goor "filth, mud;" Old Norse gor "cud;" Old High German gor "animal dung"), of uncertain origin. Sense of "clotted blood" (especially shed in battle) developed by 1560s (gore-blood is from 1550s).
Related entries & more 