shanghai.
To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly
Meaning & usage
To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest, particularly
To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest To press-gang sailors, especially (historical) for shipping or fishing work.
To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest To trick a suspect into entering a jurisdiction in which they can be lawfully arrested.
To force or trick someone to go somewhere or do something against their will or interest To transfer a serviceman against their will.
To commandeer, hijack, or otherwise (usually wrongfully) appropriate a place or thing.
Let's see if we can shanghai a room for a couple of hours.
Where this word comes from
1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.
A breed of chicken with large bodies, long legs, and feathered shanks.
A kind of daub.
A tall dandy.
A kind of dart game in which players are gradually eliminated ("shanghaied"), usually either by failing to reach a certain score in 3 quick throws or during a competition to hit a certain prechosen number and then be the first to hit the prechosen numbers of the other players.
Where this word comes from
1871, from the important Chinese port Shanghai, as a verb with reference to the former practice by some shippers on the West Coast of the United States of press-ganging crews for fishing or shipping in the Pacific Ocean.
Synonym of slingshot.
Where this word comes from
From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.
To hit with a slingshot.
Where this word comes from
From Scottish shangan, from Scottish Gaelic seangan, influenced by the Chinese city.
Try it on your idea.
shanghai has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.