# shape

Pronunciation: say "SHAYP" /ʃeɪp/

## Noun

1. The outer form or outline of something, or the way its parts are made or arranged; also, a figure or drawing showing such a form.
   - Simple: The outline or form of something, or how its parts are arranged. Also a figure such as a circle or square.
   - _The sculpture's curving shape suggested a coiled spring._
   - _These crystals grow into a regular geometric shape._
4. The condition or state that someone or something is in, especially a person's physical fitness.
   - Simple: How good or bad the condition of something or someone is, including how fit and healthy a person's body is.
   - _She runs every morning to stay in shape._
   - _The economy was in poor shape following the long recession._

## Verb

2. To influence how something develops or turns out.
   - Simple: To have an effect on how something turns out.
   - _Media coverage often shapes public opinion._
   - _Early teachers shape the way children think about science._
3. To form or work something into a particular shape or into a clear, organized form.
   - Simple: To make something into a particular shape or form, using your hands, tools, or careful work.
   - _Potters shape wet clay on a spinning wheel._
   - _She shaped the soft wire into a tiny hook._
5. To bring something into being; to create or make it. *(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: To make or create something new.

## Noun

6. A mold used for making blancmange, jelly, and similar dishes, or a portion of such food turned out in a molded form. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A mold for making jelly or pudding, or the molded food itself.

## Verb

7. To imagine something, or to form an idea of it in the mind. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To picture or think something up in your mind.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To suit something, or to be adjusted so as to conform to it.
- (noun) A loaded die: one weighted or altered to fall a particular way, used for cheating.
- (noun) A rolled or hammered metal piece (such as a bar, beam, or angle iron) whose cross section differs from that of plain merchant bar.
- (noun) A piece roughly forged almost to the form it will have once it is completely forged or fitted.
- (noun) In Hack, a structure grouping several fields, each with its own name and data type.

## Origin

The noun comes from Middle English shap, from Old English ġesceap ("shape, form, created being, condition"), from Proto-Germanic *skapą ("shape, nature, condition"), possibly going back to a Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kep- ("to split, cut"). The verb comes from Old English scieppan ("to shape, form, make, create"), from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną ("to create"). It is related to Dutch scheppen, German schaffen, and Swedish skapa ("create"), and is a doublet of -ship.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shape (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).