shim
/ʃɪm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.74 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A wedge.
noun
A small library that transparently intercepts and modifies calls to an API, usually for compatibility purposes.
noun
A thin device inserted into a card reader by a criminal to facilitate fraud.
verb
To fit one or more shims to a piece of machinery or other assembly; to adjust (something) by using shims.
verb
To adjust the homogeneity of a magnetic field (after the mechanical devices once used for the purpose).
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: shimstock (uncountable)"
- "The second adjustment [to a door that keeps swinging open] will require the screws to be loosened, and a shim or packing piece pushed behind the hinge to bring it into line."
- "Shims intercept Win32 API calls from legacy applications, as defined by system administrators, and then modify the call before passing the code to Windows for execution."
- "He — or "Shim" (she/him), as film director John Waters called the actor Divine — was as much a paradoxical as a perverse fellow."
- ""We call him shim— short for 'she-him.'"
- "Yes Maam, or Sir or just what / how do you address a shim?"