Recent Examples on the WebSome historians believe, as The Oregonian/OregonLive has reported, that the tunnels weren’t actually used to shanghai -- that is, abduct men and force them to join a ship’s crew.oregonlive, 26 Mar. 2020 The musical comedy is filled with zany pirates, zombie ships, mermaids and the plot revolves around a bumbling actor and his crew getting shanghaied by the terror of the high seas. Linda Mcintosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 July 2019 To shanghai your wife into a mental health intervention would be a mistake. Y Jeanne Phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Feb. 2018 That prompts the secretly protective Madea to shanghai Joe and the equally outrageous old-timers Hattie (Patrice Lovely) and Bam (Cassi Davis) for a trip to the lake to bring Tiffany back. Mike Scott, NOLA.com, 20 Oct. 2017 The ways in which our attention gets shanghaied by these companies makes us less good as citizens. Isaac Chotiner, Slate Magazine, 5 Oct. 2017 The idea of a summertime art festival has been shanghaied by the nonprofit Art Shanty Project. Bob Shaw, Twin Cities, 6 Jan. 2017 See More
Word History
Etymology
Shanghai, China; from the former use of this method to secure sailors for voyages to eastern Asia