shy

1 (I) adjective

1 nervous and embarrassed about talking to other people, especially people you do not know: Billy's very shy with adults, but he's fine with other children. | a shy smile | painfully shy (=extremely shy): At 15, I was painfully shy. | be too shy to do sth: I needed a ride home but was too shy to ask anyone. | go all shy spoken (=suddenly become very shy): Look, she's gone all shy - stop teasing her!

2 unwilling to do something or get involved in something

(+ about/of): Men are often shy about sharing their problems. | Madonna is certainly not shy of publicity.

3 (not before noun) especially AmE less than the amount needed

(+ of): He was only 30 votes shy of the number he needed for the nomination.

4 fight shy of (doing) sth to avoid doing something or getting involved in something: He fought shy of an open quarrel.

5 shy animals get frightened easily and are unwilling to come near people

—see also: once bitten twice shy bite 1 (13), camera­shy — shyly adverb: “I have a question,” she said, shyly stroking Ralph's arm. — shyness noun (U) 2 verb

1 if a horse shies, it makes a sudden movement away from something because it is frightened

2 (T) old-fashioned to throw a ball or other object at something

shy away from sth phrasal verb (T) to avoid doing something because you are not confident enough or you are worried or nervous about it: They criticized the leadership, but shied away from a direct challenge.