Ib. vi.
And it is a question in which of these senses Shakespeare understood shard (Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2, Macb. iii. 2, Cymb. iii. 3) when speaking of the beetle. In the first "they were his shards and he their beetle," the cow-dung, though the beetle's natal place, could hardly be meant, as he had then to do with only one shard; while supposing the wing-cases to be meant, the sense is plain: in the second "the shard-borne beetle" is ambiguous; for born and borne were the same word: in the third, "the sharded beetle" can only mean properly the beetle that has shards, and it is opposed to "the full-wing'd eagle." The fact, then, seems to be that the poet took this word from Gower, and applied it to the wing-cases of the beetle, which he supposed to be the wings, a piece of ignorance in zoology not to be wondered at in one who asserted (M. of Ven. v. 1) that the nightingale does not sing by day.
Sheriff's post (Tw. N. i. 5). It was the custom to have painted posts at the doors of city magistrates, on which proclamations, etc. were put up.
Shove-groat, a kind of game. "It requires," says Strutt, "a parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of a table, about 12 or 14 inches in breadth, and 3 or 4 feet in length; which is divided latitudinally into nine equal partitions, in every one of which is placed a figure in regular succession from one to nine. Each of the players provides himself with a smooth halfpenny [formerly a groat or shilling] which he places upon the edge of the table, and striking it with the palm of his hand drives it towards the marks; and according to the value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein the halfpenny rests his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at thirty-one, and must be made precisely. If it be exceeded, the player goes again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, or the turn is forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that separate the partitions, or overpasses the external bounderies, the go is void."
Shrew. This well-known word is used of men also in Chaucer, signifying, a bad, a wicked person: in its later restriction to women it is nearly synonymous with scold. It would seem to come from some lost Anglo-Saxon verb—of which we have a trace in beshrew—akin to the German schreien, to cry out, scream. Shrewd, now used only in the sense of mental acuteness, signified (H. VIII. v. 2) ill, malicious.
Side. "Carry out a side" (Lear, v. 1), means win a game at cards, as "pull down a side" was to lose it. It would seem that these phrases were only used of games where there were partners. Sides is still used of athletic games where there are two parties.
Sink-apace. See [Galliard].
Skains-mate (R. and J. ii. 4). Perhaps the best interpretation of this unusual term is common woman, whore, who, like Doll Tearsheet (2 H. IV. ii. 4), usually carried a knife. Skain is the Irish sgian, knife.
Sleave, and sleave-silk (Macb. ii. 2, Tr. and Cr. v. 1), the soft floss silk before it is twisted.
Sleeve-hand (W. T. iv. 3), cuff or wristband. In the same place square is the part covering the bosom: