shiny

• enPR: shī'nē, IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪ.ni/

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• Rhymes: -aɪni

From shine +‎ -y (adjectival suffix).

shiny (comparative shinier or more shiny, superlative shiniest or most shiny)

1. Reflecting light.

   Coordinate terms: glossy, glassy

   Antonyms: dull, flat, matte

   • 1920, Will Payne, The Scarred Chin, page 130:

     He was wearing a new, fawn-coloured summer suit and a new straw hat—his trousers the creasiest and his shoes the shiniest. Yet he seemed not to be taking the usual infantile satisfaction in a very smart, correct costume.

   • 2011, Ronke Luke-Boone, African Fabrics: Sewing Contemporary Fashion with Ethic Flair:

     Commercially produced yarn, such as rayon, produces a cloth with a smoother, shinier look than hand-spun cotton, but the uneven, rugged look of hand-spun cotton can be quite appealing.

2. Emitting light.

   Antonym: dark

3. (colloquial) Excellent; remarkable.
   • 2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 132:

     We're shiny, Okay?

4. (obsolete) Bright; luminous; clear; unclouded.
   • 1665, John Dryden, Verses to her Royal Highness the Duchess :

     Like distant thunder on a shiny day.

   • The Lincolnshire Poacher (traditional song)

     When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire
     Full well I served my master for nigh on seven years
     Till I took up to poaching as you shall quickly hear
     Oh, 'tis my delight on a shiny night in the season of the year.

• sunshiny

From shine +‎ -y (noun suffix).

shiny (plural shinies)

1. (informal) Anything shiny; a trinket.
2. (slang) Contraction of disparaging term "shiny arses", originating during World War Two, to describe a desk worker.