Definition of: shoulder

(shōl′dər) noun
1. The part of the trunk between the neck and the free portion of the arm or forelimb; also, the joint connecting the arm or forelimb with the body.
2. Anything which supports, bears up, or projects like a shoulder.
3. The forequarter of various animals.
4. An enlargement, projection, or offset, as for keeping something in place, or preventing movement past the projection.
5. Printing The top of the shank of a type when extending above or below the face of the letter.
6. Either edge of a road or highway.
7. The angle of a bastion included between a face and the adjacent flank: also shoulder angle.
—shoulder to shoulder
1. Side by side and close together.
2. With united effort; in cooperation.
—straight from the shoulder Colloq. Candidly; straightforwardly.
—v.t.
1. To assume as something to be borne; sustain; bear.
2. To push with or as with the shoulder or shoulders.
3. To fashion with a shoulder or abutment; make a shoulder on.
—v.i.
4. To push with the shoulder or shoulders.
—to shoulder arms To rest a rifle against the shoulder, holding the butt with the hand on the same side, the arm being held bent and close to the side. [OE sculder shoulder]