English

Adjective

shifty ‎(comparative shiftier, superlative shiftiest)

1. Having the appearance of someone dishonest, criminal or unreliable; such as someone with shifty eyes.

   He was a shifty character in a seedy bar and I checked my wallet was still there after talking to him.

2. Subject to frequent changes in direction.
   • 1971, Henry Handel Richardson, Ultima Thule (page 121)

     Off he raced, shuffling his bare feet through the hot, dry, shifty sand. But it was no good: she didn't care.

3. Full of, or ready with, shifts or expedients.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

   • Charles Kingsley

     Shifty and thrifty as old Greek or modern Scot, there were few things he could not invent, and perhaps nothing he could not endure.

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