ˈʃəʊldə ˈʃoʊldɚ ˈʃəʊldə ˈʃoʊldɚ push with the shoulders He shouldered his way into the crowd carry a burden, either real or metaphoric shoulder the burden lift onto one's shoulders a narrow edge of land (usually unpaved) along the side of a road the car pulled off onto the shoulder the part of a garment that covers or fits over the shoulder an ornamental gold braid on the shoulder of his uniform the part of the body between the neck and the upper arm a ball-and-socket joint between the head of the humerus and a cavity of the scapula a cut of meat including the upper joint of the foreleg