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shiner

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shiner¹

  • /ˈʃaɪnə(ɹ)/

Rhymes with -aɪnə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English schyner, equivalent to shine + -er. Compare Old English sċīnere (“one who produces deceptive appearances, magician”).

noun shiners

  1. One who shines; a luminary.
  2. One who causes things to shine; a polisher.
  3. colloquial A black eye.
  4. colloquial Raccoon eyes.
  5. dated, slang A bright piece of money, especially a sovereign. Has she the shiners, d'ye think?
  6. Any of numerous species of small freshwater American cyprinoid fishes of Notropis, Lythrurus, and allied genera, such as the redfin.
  7. Any silvery fish, such as the horsefish, menhaden, or moonfish.
  8. A common silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum, or any member of genus Lepisma.
  9. slang A moonshiner.
  10. A small reflective surface used for cheating at card games. Fargo wasn't sure what difference it made if one gambler passed something to another, unless it was to be used in cheating, a shiner maybe. But nobody at that table would let a shiner pass.

    Similar: convex

  11. A bottle of finished wine, without a label. Shiners are a big part of the wine business. […] Shiners are finished, bottled wines that don’t have a label or typically any other identifying feature until a vintner purchases them and then places a label on the bottles. […] They’re called shiners because they are unlabeled and have a “shiny” appe
  12. A brick that is laid on its tallest, thinnest side, with its largest face facing the outside of the wall (oriented so that this face is wider than it is tall).

Shiner²

proper noun Shiners

  1. A surname.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"shiner." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shiner. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shiner. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shiner

Chicago

"shiner." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shiner.

BibTeX
@misc{shiner_2026,
  title = {shiner},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shiner},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}