Shall (?), v. i. & auxiliary. [imp. Should (?).] [OE. shal, schal, imp.
sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde,
inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,
pres. zal, imp. zoude, zou, OHG. solan, scolan, pres. scal, sol. imp.
scolta, solta, G. sollen, pres. soll, imp. sollte, Icel. skulu, pres.
skal, imp. skyldi, SW. skola, pres. skall, imp. skulle, Dan. skulle,
pres. skal, imp. skulde, Goth. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skulda, and to
AS. scyld guilt, G. schuld guilt, fault, debt, and perhaps to L. scelus
crime.] [Shall is defective, having no infinitive, imperative, or
participle.] 1. To owe; to be under obligation for. [Obs.] "By the
faith I shall to God" Court of Love.
2. To be obliged; must. [Obs.] "Me athinketh [I am sorry] that I shall
rehearse it her." Chaucer.
3. As an auxiliary, shall indicates a duty or necessity whose
obligation is derived from the person speaking; as, you shall go; he
shall go; that is, I order or promise your going. It thus ordinarily
expresses, in the second and third persons, a command, a threat, or a
promise. If the auxillary be emphasized, the command is made more
imperative, the promise or that more positive and sure. It is also
employed in the language of prophecy; as, "the day shall come when . .
. , " since a promise or threat and an authoritative prophecy nearly
coincide in significance. In shall with the first person, the necessity
of the action is sometimes implied as residing elsewhere than in the
speaker; as, I shall suffer; we shall see; and there is always a less
distinct and positive assertion of his volition than is indicated by
will. "I shall go" implies nearly a simple futurity; more exactly, a
foretelling or an expectation of my going, in which, naturally enough,
a certain degree of plan or intention may be included; emphasize the
shall, and the event is described as certain to occur, and the
expression approximates in meaning to our emphatic "I will go." In a
question, the relation of speaker and source of obligation is of course
transferred to the person addressed; as, "Shall you go?" (answer, "I
shall go"); "Shall he go?" i. e., "Do you require or promise his
going?" (answer, "He shall go".) The same relation is transferred to
either second or third person in such phrases as "You say, or think,
you shall go;" "He says, or thinks, he shall go." After a conditional
conjunction (as if, whether) shall is used in all persons to express
futurity simply; as, if I, you, or he shall say they are right. Should
is everywhere used in the same connection and the same senses as shall,
as its imperfect. It also expresses duty or moral obligation; as, he
should do it whether he will or not. In the early English, and hence in
our English Bible, shall is the auxiliary mainly used, in all the
persons, to express simple futurity. (Cf. Will, v. t.) Shall may be
used elliptically; thus, with an adverb or other word expressive of
motion go may be omitted. "He to England shall along with you." Shak.
Shall and will are often confounded by inaccurate speakers and writers.
Say: I shall be glad to see you. Shall I do this? Shall I help you?
(not Will I do this?) See Will.
Shal"li (?), n. See Challis.
Shal"lon (?), n. (Bot.) An evergreen shrub (Gaultheria Shallon) of
Northwest America; also, its fruit. See Salal-berry.
Shal*loon" (?), n. [F. chalon, from Châlons, in France, where it was
first made.] A thin, loosely woven, twilled worsted stuff.
In blue shalloon shall Hannibal be clad.
Swift.
Shal"lop (?), n. [F. chaloupe, probably from D. sloep. Cf. Sloop.]
(Naut.) A boat.
[She] thrust the shallop from the floating strand.
Spenser.
The term shallop is applied to boats of all sizes, from a light canoe
up to a large boat with masts and sails.
Shal*lot" (?), n. [OF. eschalote (for escalone), F. échalote. See
Scallion, and cf. Eschalot.] (Bot.) A small kind of onion (Allium
Ascalonicum) growing in clusters, and ready for gathering in spring; a
scallion, or eschalot.
Shal"low (?), a. [Compar. Shallower (?); superl. Shallowest.] [OE.
schalowe, probably originally, sloping or shelving; cf. Icel. skjlgr
wry, squinting, AS. sceolh, D. & G. scheel, OHG. schelah. Cf. Shelve to
slope, Shoal shallow.] 1. Not deep; having little depth; shoal.
"Shallow brooks, and rivers wide." Milton.