Verb

To give something a shape and definition.

* 1932 , The American Scholar , page 227, United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa

The professor never pretended to the academic prerogative of forcing his students into his own channels of reasoning; he entered into and helped shape the discussion but above all he made his men learn to think for themselves and rely upon their own intellectual judgments.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}

To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.

* Prior

Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face.

* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Mark Vesty, work=BBC

, title= Wigan 2-2 Arsenal , passage=Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner. }}

(of a country, person, etc) To give influence to.

To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.

(Shakespeare)

(obsolete) To imagine; to conceive.

* Shakespeare

Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.

Verb

(obsolete) To arrive, come (to a place).

*:

*:& thenne the noble knyghte sire Launcelot departed with ryghte heuy chere sodenly / that none erthely creature wyste of hym / nor where he was become / but sir Bors

*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

*:But, madam, where is Warwick then become ?

(copulative) To come about; happen; come into being; arise.

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(copulative) begin to be; turn into.

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*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.}}

*{{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport

, title= Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , passage=Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.}}

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner

, title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

To be proper for; to befit.

*1930 , (Duff Cooper), Talleyrand , Folio Society, 2010, p.7:

*:His ordinationenabled him to be independent of his parents, and to afford a manner of living which became his rank rather than his calling.

Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone).

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