noun fig.: that which supports or sustains; support.
2. shoulder ·noun the angle of a bastion included between the face and flank. ·see ·illust. of bastion.
3. shoulder ·vt to push or thrust with the shoulder; to push with violence; to jostle.
4. shoulder ·noun that which resembles a human shoulder, as any protuberance or projection from the body of a thing.
5. shoulder ·noun the upper joint of the fore leg and adjacent parts of an animal, dressed for market; as, a shoulder of mutton.
6. shoulder ·add. ·vi to push with the shoulder; to make one's way, as through a crowd, by using the shoulders; to move swaying the shoulders from side to side.
7. shoulder ·vt to take upon the shoulder or shoulders; as, to shoulder a basket; hence, to assume the burden or responsibility of; as, to shoulder blame; to shoulder a debt.
8. shoulder ·noun the joint, or the region of the joint, by which the fore limb is connected with the body or with the shoulder girdle; the projection formed by the bones and muscles about that joint.
9. shoulder ·noun the flesh and muscles connected with the shoulder joint; the upper part of the back; that part of the human frame on which it is most easy to carry a heavy burden;
often used in the plural.
10. shoulder ·noun an abrupt projection which forms an abutment on an object, or limits motion, ·etc., as the projection around a tenon at the end of a piece of timber, the part of the top of a type which projects beyond the base of the raised character, ·etc.