shanghaied

Variant of shanghai

noun

any of a breed of large, dark-skinned chicken with white feathers and feathered shanks, imported from China in the 19th cent.

Origin: after Shanghai

transitive verb shanghaied, shanghaiing

  1. Origin: orig. said of sailors thus kidnapped for crew duty on the China run

    to kidnap, usually by drugging, for service aboard ship
  2. Slang to induce (another) to do something through force or deceit

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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