shiner

noun

shin·​er ˈshī-nər How to pronounce shiner (audio)
1
: one that shines
2
: a silvery fish
especially : any of numerous small freshwater American cyprinid fishes (especially genus Notropis) compare golden shiner
3

Examples of shiner in a Sentence

He got a shiner during a fight at school.
Recent Examples on the Web On a trip two days earlier, Daniel set up his anglers with live wild shiners for bait, which produced three bass over 7 pounds. Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024 Daniel wacky rigs the soft-plastic stick bait on a size 4/0 shiner hook, which has a wire weedguard to limit the number of times the hook point snags on vegetation. Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024 In some states, for instance, using a cast net is lawful for catching shiners, river baitfish, and tidewater minnows. Bob McNally, Outdoor Life, 4 Jan. 2024 The mystery of Heather Gay's season 3 shiner is finally solved. Maggie Kreienberg, Peoplemag, 3 Jan. 2024 Wilbert Boyce, believed to be Savannah's last shoe shiner, has decided to retire — marking the end of an era for Boyce and his vanishing craft. David Begnaud, CBS News, 22 Sep. 2023 Fleeing Kabul Mohammad had worked for much of his young life, first as a shoe shiner and mechanic’s helper at an auto shop, then at a Kabul hospital, cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors, providing meager means for his family to allow his younger siblings to get an education. USA TODAY, 13 Aug. 2023 Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher reported in their 2016 book, Trump Revealed, that Trump’s elementary school friends didn’t remember young Donald giving his teacher a shiner, and that the schoolteacher in question, one Charles Walker, never mentioned it. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 8 Aug. 2023 The killings, sometimes described as a race riot, were triggered by the arrest of a Black teenage shoe shiner who had stepped into an elevator with a White elevator operator, who then screamed; according to one popular account, the teenager had stepped on the back of her shoe. Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shiner.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shiner was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near shiner

Cite this Entry

“Shiner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shiner. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

shiner

noun
shin·​er ˈshī-nər How to pronounce shiner (audio)
1
: one that shines
2
: a silvery fish
especially : any of numerous small freshwater American fishes related to the carp
3

Medical Definition

shiner

noun
shin·​er ˈshī-nər How to pronounce shiner (audio)
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!