SHY AWAY FROM • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Shy away from

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/ʃaɪ əwˈeɪ frəm/ Listen

Shy away from

verb

Avoid having to deal with some unpleasant task.

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Etymology of 'Shy away from'

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"Shy away from" Quotes from Famous Books

... reef-tackle, Jackson was tottering up the rigging; thus getting the start of them, and securing his place at the extreme weather-end of the topsail-yard—which in reefing is accounted the post of honor. For it was one of the characteristics of this man, that though when on duty he would shy away from mere dull work in a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed the van, and would yield it to none; and this, perhaps, was one cause of his unbounded dominion over ...

— Redburn. His First Voyage • Herman Melville

... the right idea steadily enough before the attention to let it exert its adequate effects. Whether it be stimulative or inhibitive, it is too reasonable for us; and the more instinctive passional propensity then tends to extrude it from our consideration. We shy away from the thought of it. It twinkles and goes out the moment it appears in the margin of our consciousness; and we need a resolute effort of voluntary attention to drag it into the focus of the field, and ...

— Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals • William James

Words linked to "Shy away from" : avoid