1. To play the petty thief; to practice fraud or trickery; to swindle.
Neither sharks for a cup or a reckoning.
Bp. Earle. 2. To live by shifts and stratagems. Beau. & Fl.
Sharker
(Shark"er) n. One who lives by sharking.
Sharking
(Shark"ing), n. Petty rapine; trick; also, seeking a livelihood by shifts and dishonest devices.
Sharock
(Shar"ock) n. An East Indian coin of the value of 12½ pence sterling, or about 25 cents.
Sharp
(Sharp) a. [Compar. Sharper ; superl. Sharpest.] [OE. sharp, scharp, scarp, AS. scearp; akin
to OS. skarp, LG. scharp, D. scherp, G. scharf, Dan. & Sw. skarp, Icel. skarpr. Cf. Escarp, Scrape,
Scorpion.]
1. Having a very thin edge or fine point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen.
He dies upon my scimeter's sharp point.
Shak. 2. Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse or rounded; somewhat pointed or edged; peaked or ridged; as,
a sharp hill; sharp features.
3. Affecting the sense as if pointed or cutting, keen, penetrating, acute: to the taste or smell, pungent,
acid, sour, as ammonia has a sharp taste and odor; to the hearing, piercing, shrill, as a sharp sound or
voice; to the eye, instantaneously brilliant, dazzling, as a sharp flash.
4. (Mus.) (a) High in pitch; acute; as, a sharp note or tone. (b) Raised a semitone in pitch; as, C sharp
which is a half step, or semitone, higher than C. (c) So high as to be out of tune, or above true pitch; as,
the tone is sharp; that instrument is sharp. Opposed in all these senses to flat.
5. Very trying to the feelings; piercing; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp
and frosty air.
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones.
Shak.
The morning sharp and clear.
Cowper.
In sharpest perils faithful proved.
Keble. 6. Cutting in language or import; biting; sarcastic; cruel; harsh; rigorous; severe; as, a sharp rebuke. "That
sharp look." Tennyson.
To that place the sharp Athenian law
Can not pursue us.
Shak.
Be thy words severe,
Sharp as merits but the sword forbear.
Dryden. 7. Of keen perception; quick to discern or distinguish; having nice discrimination; acute; penetrating; sagacious; clever; as,
a sharp eye; sharp sight, hearing, or judgment.
Nothing makes men sharper . . . than want.
Addison.
Many other things belong to the material world, wherein the sharpest philosophers have never ye arrived
at clear and distinct ideas.
L. Watts. 8. Eager in pursuit; keen in quest; impatient for gratification; keen; as, a sharp appetite.
