From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshin up/downshin up/downCLIMBto climb quickly up or down a tree, pole etc by using your hands and legs SYN shinny American English He shinned up a tree. → shin
Examples from the Corpus
shin up/down• I locked myself out of the house and had to shinny up a drainpipe to get in.• No fire-escape, no convenient drainpipe anyone could shin up.• Nothing as cheap as an open window or shinning down a drainpipe at midnight or down paying a suitcase full of bricks.• Dave shinned up a handy conifer.• He nodded encouragement to his fellows, and they shinned up after him and dropped down into the stockade.• But can not phone him from Twills as Mr Twill would insist on shinning up drainpipe himself and break femur.• The animal was so tame that it shinned up his leg and dived into a deep pocket.• Maintenance men could tell whether a pole - wooden or concrete - is dangerously cracked before shinning up it.• We watched as small boys shinned up palm trees and brought coconuts down.• Craig shinned down the rope to where we were standing.• Boys and girls shinned up trees to 10p off branches. 