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# shoulder

«shoulder» in Mova's school dictionary: **the part of your body where your arm joins the rest of…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a shoulder, shoulders); verb (shoulder, shoulders, shouldered, shouldering)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Your shoulder is the part of your body where your arm joins the rest of your body, below your neck. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#m1)

2) The shoulder of a road (US, Canada, Australia) is the strip at the edge where cars can stop. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#m2)

3) To shoulder something means to carry it on your shoulder, or to take on a job or blame. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, the shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint, so your arm can move in a circle. In everyday life you carry a bag on your shoulder (two straps are better for your back), shrug your shoulders when you don't know, and tap someone on the shoulder to get their attention. In feelings, «a shoulder to cry on» is someone who comforts you. «Shoulder to shoulder» means side by side. On roads, the shoulder is not for walking or playing.

### examples

- She carried her bag on her shoulder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x1)
- He shrugged his shoulders; he didn't know. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x2)
- The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x3)
- My dad lifted me onto his shoulders to see the parade. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x4)
- Tap her on the shoulder to say hello. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x5)
- The car pulled over onto the shoulder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x6)
- Head, shoulders, knees and toes! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x7)
- But an iron claw gripped his shoulder. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/#x8)

### note

Countable. Spelt -oul-, said «SHOWL-der». The shoulder joint can move more ways than the elbow (a hinge). «Cold shoulder» = ignoring someone on purpose. UK roads call the edge a «hard shoulder» on motorways.

### In the corpora

- [Small shakes are normal; artists draw lightly with many strokes from the shoulder and elbow, then darken the line they like.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/12-drawing-lines-shapes-and-drawing-what-you-really-see/17/)
- [A microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is placed under the skin between the shoulder blades.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/332-lost-pets-microchips-holidays-and-moving-house/5/)
- [She keeps leaning her very sharp chin on Alice's shoulder, which Alice bears politely, though she doesn't like it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/17-alice-the-mock-turtles-story-1/3/)
- [Badger: «a stripy head, with high shoulders behind it» peered out of a hedge, grunted «H'm!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/27-willows-ch1-part3-otter-badger-and-toad/21/)
- [The Rat says nothing for a while, just pats his shoulder.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/42-willows-ch5-part2-mole-end/3/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «shoulder» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shoulder/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.