shade
/ʃeɪd/ noun, verb, proper noun
- noun (uncountable) Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked. “The old oak tree gave shade in the heat of the day.”
- noun (countable) Something that blocks light, particularly in a window. “Close the shade, please: it's too bright in here.”
- noun (countable) A variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint). “I've painted my room in five lovely shades of pink and chartreuse.”
- noun (figuratively) A subtle variation in a concept. “shades of meaning”
- noun (figuratively, in the plural) An aspect that is reminiscent of something. “shades of Groucho Marx”
- noun A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning “That is a shade too close.”
- noun (chiefly literary and fantasy) A ghost or specter; a spirit. “Too long have I been haunted by that shade.”
- noun (countable) A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.
- verb (transitive) To shield (someone or something) from light. “The old oak tree shaded the lawn in the heat of the day.”
- verb (intransitive, rare) To shield oneself from light. “We shaded under a huge oak tree.”
- verb (transitive) To alter slightly. “You'll need to shade your shot slightly to the left.”
- verb (intransitive) To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color. “The hillside was bright green, shading towards gold in the drier areas.”
- verb (intransitive, baseball, of a defensive player) To move slightly from one's normal fielding position. “Jones will shade a little to the right on this pitch count.”
- verb (transitive) To darken, particularly in drawing. “I draw contours first, gradually shading in midtones and shadows.”
- verb To win by a narrow margin. “Both parties claimed afterwards that their man did best in the debate, but an early opinion poll suggested Mr Cameron shaded it.”
- verb (transitive, graphical user interface) To reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
shadiness shadowiness tint tincture tone nuance nicety subtlety refinement tad ghost spook wraith specter spectre shadow shade off fill in
Antonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English schade, from Old English sċeadu, from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₃tús, from *(s)ḱeh₃-. Doublet of shadow. Cognate with Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos) (whence English scoto-) and σκιά (skiá) (whence English scia-, and uncertainly via σκίουρος (skíouros) English squirrel).
Inherited from Middle English schaden, from schade + -en.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Comparative obscurity owing to interception or interruption of the rays of light; partial darkness caused by the intervention of something between the space contemplated and the source of light.
- noun Darkness; obscurity; --often in the plural.
- verb To shelter or screen by intercepting the rays of light; to keep off illumination from. Milton.
- verb To shelter; to cover from injury; to protect; to screen; to hide; as, to shade one's eyes.
Etymology [OE. shade, shadewe, schadewe, AS. sceadu, scead; akin to OS. skado, D. schaduw, OHG. scato, (gen. scatewes), G. schatten, Goth. skadus, Ir. & Gael. sgath, and probably to Gr. Shadow, Shed a hat.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “shade”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details