Shetland Pony, s. A horse peculiar to the Shetland isles.
Although the Shetland ponies are exceedingly diminutive in size, they are in other respects excellent. There have been instances of these animals whose height from the foot to the shoulder scarcely exceeded three feet, and a man of ordinary size and strength can lift one of them from the ground with great ease.
The general form of these ponies is very elegant, and their body is thicker and more compact than that of a blood-horse; they have small legs and large manes, their bones are exceedingly small, as is also their head, and that part of the neck which joins to it, the most common colours are grey, bay, and black. The latter are esteemed the hardiest, whilst those that are pied seldom prove good. They sometimes live to the age of thirty years and upwards, notwithstanding the little care that is bestowed on them in sheltering them from the cold, which, in the climate of the Shetland Islands, is peculiarly severe in the winter: but from the circumstance of their being compelled to live out of doors during even the severest months of the year, great numbers are occasionally frozen to death. At this season, when the ground is entirely covered with snow, the wretched animals are compelled to seek subsistence on the sea-weeds, which, once in every twelve hours, are left exposed by the tide.—Illustrations of Natural History by Le Keux.
Shin, s. The forepart of the leg.
Shingles, s. A kind of tetter or herpes that spreads itself round the loins.
Ship, s. A ship may be defined a large hollow building made to pass over the sea with sails; a vessel with three masts. Vide Yacht.
Shittlecock, s. A cork stuck with feathers, and driven by players from one to another with battledoors.
Shoal, s. A crowd, a multitude, a throng; a shallow, a sand bank; a number of fishes.
Shoaly, a. Full of shoals, full of shallow places.
Shock Dog (Canis Fotor), s. A lady’s dog.