Shah Diamond. A gem weighing 86 carats, long the property of Chosroes I., Shah of Persia, who, dying in 579, presented it to a Khan of the Tartars, from whom it descended to Ivan III., the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible, the first Czar of Russia.
Shakers. An American sect, first heard of in 1774, at Albany in the state of New York, so called from the convulsive movements of the hands and arms as part of their peculiar form of worship. Its founder was Ann Lee, self-styled “Mother Ann,” of Manchester, who, receiving little encouragement for her religious tenets in her native land, emigrated with a few disciples to the New World.
Shalloon. Originally manufactured at Chalons in France.
Shanty. This term for a hut or cabin first obtained currency in Canada, having been derived from the French settlers, who gave the name chantier to a hut erected in a dockyard under construction.
Shattered Prices. An Americanism for “reduced prices.”
“She” Bible. See “‘He’ Bible.”
Sheen. See “[Richmond].”
Sheet Anchor. A corruption of “Shote Anchor,” an extra heavy one, that can be expeditiously shot out for the greater security of a vessel under stress of weather. To act as a sheet anchor to a man is to be his mainstay or chief dependence.
Sheffield. From the River Sheaf, on the confluence of which and the Don the town stands.
Shekel Day. The day (27th May) set apart every year throughout the Jewish world for the collection of a shekel--a shilling, franc mark, half rouble, or “quarter,” according to the currency of the individual country--in support of the Zionist Movement for the re-colonisation of Palestine. The word “shekel” is from the Hebrew shekal, to weigh.