Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - shy

~1 adj 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 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 bite1 (13), camera­shy) - shyly adv  ("I have a question," she said, shyly stroking Ralph's arm.) - shyness n ~2 v 1 if a horse shies, it makes a sudden movement away from something because it is frightened 2 old-fashioned to throw a ball or other object at something shy away from sth phr v 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.)