shanghai
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A schemer and her henchmen shanghai two book salesmen for a diamond safari in Africa.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2020
Glassy-eyed conductors shanghai hapless passengers from the curb into shuddering minibuses that zigzag through lines of cars, sometimes even jumping up on the sidewalk.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2014
He wanders into the waterfront dive run by Milly, a "shark" who helps shanghai drunken sailors into freighter crews.
From Time Magazine Archive
Job scouts from cabarets, electronic plants and weaving mills virtually shanghai girl caddies off the golf courses.
From Time Magazine Archive
Brian had taken such a powerful dislike to Ginger that I realized she must have done something more than shanghai his comic book.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
One may have said that the bantams of the honored guest were not perhaps as small as some other bantams, but that the colossal size of his shanghais was beyond parallel.
From Imaginary Interviews by Howells, William Dean
Home was, alas! no longer the snug nest in which she was safe from the slings and shanghais of the world.
From The Getting of Wisdom by Richardson, Henry Handel
Once at the embassy she could be shanghaied back to Hong Kong or China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
Nalini, newly arrived aboard the shanghaied ship, serves as the outsider-observer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
The ways in which our attention gets shanghaied by these companies makes us less good as citizens.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2017
A romantic comedy that is shanghaied by Kate’s domineering presence, the play does not really delve into religious questions but instead studies blind intolerance in an otherwise engaging if maddening individual.
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2013
I consider trying to catch part of the show, but am afraid that if I cross the lot I’ll get shanghaied into some other task.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
With the Napoleonic wars raging across Europe, the British navy had taken to shanghaiing Americans in foreign ports and at sea to fill out its wartime fleets.
From Time ● Jun. 18, 2012
I asked Alexander Rekunkov, the deputy procurator-general, "Why didn't you send a summons instead of shanghaiing me?"
From Time Magazine Archive
The army's recent practice of shanghaiing young conscripts off the streets is not likely to generate goodwill -- or good soldiers.
From Time Magazine Archive
The cheerful industry of shanghaiing was reduced to a science.
From Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror by Linthicum, Richard
"No more shanghaiing hair pants for me, no more!" thickly replied Portsmouth.
From Bar-20 Days by Mulford, Clarence Edward
