See shape for on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From shape a course (for). Possibly derived from sailors setting sails of specific shape for a given voyage.\nAlternatively, from sails taking shape when filled by wind.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "shapes for",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "shaping for",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "shaped for",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "shaped for",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
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"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shape, for."
],
"id": "en-shape_for-en-verb-IHXnRNYW",
"links": [
[
"shape",
"shape#English"
],
[
"for",
"for#English"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "5 95",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 89",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"for\"",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "6 94",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "5 95",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
87,
97
]
],
"ref": "1884, Jeannette inquiry. Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the United States House of Representatives, Forthy-eighth Congress, →LCCN, page 803:",
"text": "We coasted that island one day until we arrived at the South Cape. Then, of course, we shaped for Stolboi, to the southwest, and we passed to the westward of it and landed on Seminov Island first. Then, from Seminov Island, we shaped a course to Barkin, and midway we were dispersed in the gale.",
"type": "quotation"
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"ref": "1911 October 7, William Wood, “Alouette”, in The University Magazine, volume X, page 427:",
"text": "We shaped for Pointe-aux-Orignaux, twenty-one miles down in a dead straight line, but twenty-eight by the course we actually took. The redoubtable Baie Ste. Anne lay between us and our destination. It is a bad place for any kind of craft in dirty weather or at low tide, and I would advise canoemen to respect its humours accordingly.",
"type": "quotation"
},
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104,
114
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"ref": "1916, William Buchan, The Log of H.M.S. \"Bristol\", →LCCN, page 61:",
"text": ". . . board shortly after, but no news came our way. We remained till 3 p.m., and proceeding to sea, we shaped for Para again, and after an uneventful passage, Para was reached at . . .",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
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227,
237
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],
"ref": "1955, John Doody, The Burning Coast, →LCCN, page 165:",
"text": "On the way in we spoke the schooner Marconi, outward bound for the shark grounds off Dahlak, and got a very cheery Buon Giorno from her skipper and crew of happy-go-lucky Sicilians. After she had gone, sailing into the sun, we shaped for the entrance; but for once we had to wait, doing circles off Ras Al Madur, before going in, for the signal hoist to say traffic was outward bound was flying.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
75,
85
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],
"ref": "1961, Edward F. Dolan, Jr., White Battleground; The Conquest Of The Arctic, →LCCN, page 12:",
"text": "Barents set a course northeast to get the expedition around North Cape and shaped for Novaya Zemlya, but Rijp refused to follow it.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
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0,
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107,
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[
126,
131
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[
172,
181
]
],
"ref": "1963, Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars, →LCCN, pages 26, 95:",
"text": "p.26: Would I! The Wanderlust has, as her sole virtue, the fact that she is indeed a spaceship and she was shaping for Earth.\np.95: Actually I'm just marking time until we shape for Earth, because Venus is a Grave Disappointment--and now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Earth will not be a G.D., too.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To head out to a particular destination."
],
"id": "en-shape_for-en-verb-6bXu9QRC",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, originally navy jargon) To head out to a particular destination."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"word": "shape for"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English phrasal verbs",
"English phrasal verbs formed with \"for\"",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "From shape a course (for). Possibly derived from sailors setting sails of specific shape for a given voyage.\nAlternatively, from sails taking shape when filled by wind.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "shapes for",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "shaping for",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "shaped for",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "shaped for",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
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],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shape, for."
],
"links": [
[
"shape",
"shape#English"
],
[
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},
{
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"examples": [
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[
87,
97
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],
"ref": "1884, Jeannette inquiry. Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the United States House of Representatives, Forthy-eighth Congress, →LCCN, page 803:",
"text": "We coasted that island one day until we arrived at the South Cape. Then, of course, we shaped for Stolboi, to the southwest, and we passed to the westward of it and landed on Seminov Island first. Then, from Seminov Island, we shaped a course to Barkin, and midway we were dispersed in the gale.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
3,
13
]
],
"ref": "1911 October 7, William Wood, “Alouette”, in The University Magazine, volume X, page 427:",
"text": "We shaped for Pointe-aux-Orignaux, twenty-one miles down in a dead straight line, but twenty-eight by the course we actually took. The redoubtable Baie Ste. Anne lay between us and our destination. It is a bad place for any kind of craft in dirty weather or at low tide, and I would advise canoemen to respect its humours accordingly.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
104,
114
]
],
"ref": "1916, William Buchan, The Log of H.M.S. \"Bristol\", →LCCN, page 61:",
"text": ". . . board shortly after, but no news came our way. We remained till 3 p.m., and proceeding to sea, we shaped for Para again, and after an uneventful passage, Para was reached at . . .",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
227,
237
]
],
"ref": "1955, John Doody, The Burning Coast, →LCCN, page 165:",
"text": "On the way in we spoke the schooner Marconi, outward bound for the shark grounds off Dahlak, and got a very cheery Buon Giorno from her skipper and crew of happy-go-lucky Sicilians. After she had gone, sailing into the sun, we shaped for the entrance; but for once we had to wait, doing circles off Ras Al Madur, before going in, for the signal hoist to say traffic was outward bound was flying.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
75,
85
]
],
"ref": "1961, Edward F. Dolan, Jr., White Battleground; The Conquest Of The Arctic, →LCCN, page 12:",
"text": "Barents set a course northeast to get the expedition around North Cape and shaped for Novaya Zemlya, but Rijp refused to follow it.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
0,
5
],
[
107,
118
],
[
126,
131
],
[
172,
181
]
],
"ref": "1963, Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars, →LCCN, pages 26, 95:",
"text": "p.26: Would I! The Wanderlust has, as her sole virtue, the fact that she is indeed a spaceship and she was shaping for Earth.\np.95: Actually I'm just marking time until we shape for Earth, because Venus is a Grave Disappointment--and now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Earth will not be a G.D., too.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To head out to a particular destination."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, originally navy jargon) To head out to a particular destination."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"word": "shape for"
}
Download raw JSONL data for shape for meaning in All languages combined (4.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-07-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-07-06 using wiktextract (e62056b and e7887d5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.