▪ I. shade, n.
(ʃeɪd)
Forms: 1 sceadu, scead, scad, sced, scæd, 3 ssade, 3–4 schade, 4 ssed(e, 5, 7, 9 dial. shad(de, 6 shaad, 6–7 Sc. schad, 4, 6– shade.
[ME. schade, repr. OE. sceadu str. fem. (oblique cases sceadwe, also irreg. sceade) and the by-form scead neut. (dat. sing. sceade, pl. sceadu). The flexional form sceadwe is represented by shadow n., q.v. for the further etymology.
The ME. schade, mod.Eng. shade, descend regularly from the nom. sceadu of the fem. n., and from the dat. sceade, which is common to the fem. and the neut. n. The neut. nom. scead is represented by ME. schad(de, mod. dial. shad.
The OE. sceade for sceadwe genit. and dat. is due to the analogy of other ns. with nom. sing. in -u. The neuter scead prob. arose from taking the sing. sceadu as a plural.]
I. Comparative darkness.
1. a. Partial or comparative darkness; absence of complete illumination; esp. the comparative darkness caused by a more or less opaque object intercepting the direct rays of the sun or other luminary.
| a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 116 (Gr.) Hydeð hine æᵹhwylc æfter sceades sciman. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 18 Thou Polymya..that..Singest with vois memorial in the shade Vnder the laurer. ? c 1400 Lydg. æsop's Fab. i. 84 (Trin.) [Cock-crow] Causeþ merchauntys and pylgryms to be glad, The theuys swerde hyd vndyr þe shad. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 29 Let vs be Dianaes Forresters, Gentlemen of the Shade. 1629 Milton Hymn Nativ. xx, In twilight shade of tangled thickets. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 1139 The night begins to fall, A shade immense. 1791–2 Wordsw. Descr. Sk. 98 Aloft, here, half a village shines arrayed In golden light; half hides itself in shade. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xlviii, The pensive shade of twilight was pleasing to her. 1797 ― Italian Prol., The shade of the long aisles. 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. viii, The lady stood in the shade. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. Concl. xxx, And touch with shade the bridal doors, With tender gloom the roof, the wall. 1870 Rossetti Last Conf. 253 As when a bird flies low Between the water and the willow leaves, And the shade quivers till he wins the light. |
† b. shade of death = shadow of death.
| a 900 [see shadow 1 b]. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iv. 89 But darkness, and the gloomy shade of death Inuiron you. 1593 ― 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 54. |
c. fig. Comparative obscurity. Chiefly in phrases,
to be in the shade, to be in retirement, to be little known;
to cast, throw into the shade,
put into the shade, to obscure by contrast of superior brilliancy, to surpass so as to render insignificant.
| 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars i. 3 Though I am a stranger to the Court and Camp, a man..of the shade, yet [etc.]. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. (1892) 55 They throw the light on one side only of their case; though..the other side which is kept in the shade has it's importance too. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 556, I have chosen to remain in the shade. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxvii, Hast thou..sought refuge from oppression in the shade of the convent? 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xliv, Adeline would throw into the shade..Their sort of half profession. 1852 Beck's Florist 229 Young's Crimson King..puts all other bedding varieties into the shade. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes v, How can we see a man's brilliant qualities if he is what we call in the shade? 1884 Manch. Exam. 2 May 4/7 Internal taxation..is so excessive in other Portuguese colonies as to cast even an illiberal tariff into the shade. 1884 R. W. Church Bacon iii. 68 Bacon still remained in the shade. |
d. transf. A fleeting look of displeasure, a ‘cloud’ on a person's brow or countenance.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xii, The whole countenance loses its sterner shades, and becomes serene and placid. 1838 Lytton Alice i. iv, A shade came over her forehead. 1879 E. K. Bates Egypt. Bonds I. viii. 183 A shade of annoyance crosses his face. |
2. In plural.
a. the shades (of night, of evening, etc.): the darkness of night; the growing darkness after sunset. Also
fig.| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. 8 Watrye shaads Aurora remooued. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 177 To dwell in solemne shades of endlesse night. 1634 Milton Comus 580 O night and shades, How are ye joyn'd with hell in triple knot. 1667 ― P.L. iv. 1015 The Fiend..fled Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night. 1682 Dryden Religio Laici 182 Sin spread once again the Shades of Night. 1717 Pope Let. to Mrs. M. Blount, The shades of the evening overtook me. 1744 Akenside Pleas. Imag. ii. 6 How faint, How slow, the dawn of Beauty and of Truth, Breaks the reluctant shades of gothic night. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xx, The shades come down—the day is shut. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. vii, The thick shades of night are falling. 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story vii, The shades of evening had by this time fallen upon the quiet city. 1841 Longfellow Excelsior 1. |
b. the shades: the darkness of the nether world; the abode of the dead, Hades. (Often indistinguishable from the collective plural of sense 6).
| 1594 Kyd Cornelia iii. i. 107 When shall this soule of mine Come visite thee in the Elisian shades? 1601 Campion Bk. Ayres i. xx, When thou must home to shades of vnder ground. 1638 G. Sandys Paraphr. Job xxxiv. (1648) 50 No mufling Clouds, nor Shades Infernall, can From his inquiry hide offending Man. 1718 Pope Iliad xvii. 349 Sent by great Ajax to the Shades of Hell. 1749 Smollett Regicide v. ii, Then let our swords..Dismiss him to the shades. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. vi, And e'en for change of scene would seek the shades below. 1907 Quiller-Couch Introd. to Coleridge's Poems 1 After a third attempt to embrace his mother in the Shades. |
c. Applied to the condition of the present life in contrast to that of heaven.
nonce-use.
| 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. i. 53 Us poor dwellers in the woeful shades Of mortal being. |
3. a. Drawing and
Painting. Absence of complete illumination as represented pictorially; the parts, or a particular part, of a picture which represent this; the darker colour expressing absence of illumination. Often in
light and shade.
| 1662 Evelyn Sculptura i. (1906) 89 Perel has discovered a particular talent for Landskips, if not a little exceeded in the darknesse of his shades. 1710 Whitworth Acc. Russia (1758) 40 Miserable paintings without shade or perspective. 1756–7 Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 167 Streaks of verde antico inlaid by way of shades. 1768 W. Gilpin Ess. Prints (1781) 158 The whole is in dark shade, except three figures on the fore-ground. 1779 Mirror No. 48 ¶10 By the distribution of light and shade, to make every figure stand out from the canvas. 1799 [G. Smith] Laboratory I. 179 Delineate the outlines or capital strokes and where the shades appear soft. 1812 Cary Dante, Purg. xii. 29 What master of the pencil or the style Had traced the shades and lines. 1840 C. O. Müller's Hist. Lit. Greece xi. §2 He contemplates it as the shade in a picture. 1907 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 112 A good contrast of light and shade. |
b. transf. and
fig. In various applications: those portions of a story, a literary work, or the like, which are designedly less brilliant in effect than others; the less praiseworthy features of a character, the sadder portions of a person's history, etc.
light and shade: in a literary work, a musical performance, or the like, the contrast necessary to artistic effect, of passages of lighter and graver tone, or of greater and less brilliancy.
| 1732 [see light n. 12]. 1768 Boswell Corsica ii. (ed. 2) 80 The shades which were in his private conduct, are to be forgotten. 1818 T. Busby Gram. Mus. 480 The Voluntary, like the Organ Concerto, should have its lights and shades. Mod. (Conductor loq.) You must be careful of your light and shade in this passage. |
c. Ent. An ill-defined patch of darker colour on the wing of a moth.
| 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 415 The hind margin is chiefly occupied by a darker band-like shade. Ibid. 417 The discoidal spots are green,..the reniform having..a gray-brown shade on the median area. In recent Dicts. |
4. a. Degree of darkness or depth of colour; hence, any of the many minutely differing varieties of quality that may exist in what is broadly considered as one and the same colour; a tint.
By chromatologists (after Clerk Maxwell,
Sci. Papers 1890 I. 131) the word is used in a more restricted sense, distinguished from
hue and
tint. Two varieties of a mixed colour (
e.g. lilac) differ in
shade when one is lighter or darker than the other; in
hue when the one is more red more blue, etc., than the other; and in
tint when the one is more or less decided in colour than the other. For a different distinction see
quot. 1879.
| 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. iii. §1 Colours, as white, red, yellow, blue; with their several Degrees or Shades, and Mixtures. 1783 Wedgwood in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 285 Darker or lighter shades of black and brown. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 274 Various shades of rose, violet, and dark red. 1879 Pole in Nature 6 Nov. 15/2 note, In technical language mixtures of a colour with white are called tints, with black, shades. 1885 Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines xix, My stubbly hair came out of the treasure cave about three shades greyer than it went in. |
b. transf. and
fig. A minutely-differentiated degree or variety (of a quality, a condition, meaning, etc.). Often
advb. with comparatives,
a shade better,
less, etc.
| 1749 Smollett Gil Blas ix. ii. (1782) III. 229 He put (to use the expression) different shades of consideration in the civilities he shewed. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xviii. II. 89 Among the different branches of the human race, the Sarmatians form a very remarkable shade. 1820 J. W. Croker Diary 2 Feb., The King is a shade better. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. ix. (1891) 211, I drew my chair a shade nearer to her. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. v. 13 Men of all shades of opinion..combined against him. |
c. A tinge, a minute qualifying infusion (of some quality); colloquially, a minute quantity or portion added or removed.
| 1791 Burke App. Whigs 6 Without any shade of sorrow. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xliii, There was now in his conduct a shade of lunacy. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xi. 290, I..was unwilling to accept an observation of such importance with a shade of doubt attached to it. 1888 Payn Myst. Mirbridge III. l. 257 A touch of pity, just the merest shade, but still a touch, crept into those threatening eyes. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 194 Up came Whitworth's highly scientific foreman to tell the American that in their shop they did not work to ‘shades’, but to measurement. |
II. 5. a. A dark figure ‘cast’ upon a surface by a body intercepting light, a shadow. Now
dial. and
poet.| a 1000 Cædmon's Exod. 113 (Gr.) Blace stodon ofer sceo⁓tendum scire leoman, scinon scyldhreoðan, sceado swiðredon. a 1300 Cursor M. 20883 Peter..a ded he quickend wit his schade. 1340 Ayenb. 179 Zuich uolk is y-lich þe horse þet heþ drede of his ssede. c 1400 Pety Job 308 in 26 Pol. Poems 131 And thus I chaunge in euery shoure, And fle away ryght as a shade. 1561 W. Kethe in Sc. Psalter xc. v, They are..euen lyke a slepe or shade. 1662 Evelyn Sculptura v. 122 You see likewise in this very Figure, that the oblique, and direct shades o u x y are caused by the cathetus m t n. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 80 ¶2 After a few hours, we see the shades lengthen. 1868 Morris Earthly Par., Cupid & Psyche 641 And when she woke the shades were lengthening. 1891 Hardy Tess xxi, I zid you kissing his shade. |
b. fig. An unsubstantial image of something real; an unreal appearance; something that has only a fleeting existence, or that has become reduced almost to nothing;
= shadow n. 6. Now only
poet. or
rhetorical. Also, with strengthened hyperbole,
the shadow of a shade.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2330 Þe king nas him sulf bote as a ssade & let im worþe al out. a 1300 Sarmun xxxviii. in E.E.P. (1862) 5 Man-is lif nis bot a schade nov he is and nov he nis. 1340 Ayenb. 77 Holy wryt þet hise clepeþ leazinges and ssed and metinges and uanites. c 1580 Sidney Ps. xxxix. iv, They are but shades, not true things where we live. 1664 S. Crossman in Palmer Bk. Praise (1865) 166 My life's a shade, my days Apace to death decline. 1741–2 Gray Agrippina 43 The consulate, that empty shade Of long-forgotten liberty. 1814 Coleridge To Lady with Falconer's ‘Shipwreck’ vi, Remembrances of Friend, Or absent or no more! Shades of the Past, Which Love makes substance! 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxvii, I am a member of the suffering and Episcopal Church of Scotland—the shadow of a shade now, and fortunately so. 1874 A. O'Shaughnessy Music & Moonlight 185 We die..And shades, we hunt some shade of our desire. |
c. transf. An inseparable follower or companion.
poet. nonce-use.
Cf. shadow n. 8.
| 1667 Milton P.L. x. 249 Thou my Shade Inseparable must with mee along. |
6. a. The visible but impalpable form of a dead person, a ghost. Also, a disembodied spirit, an inhabitant of Hades (
= L.
umbra); chiefly with allusion to pagan mythology. Often collective plural,
the shades: the world of disembodied spirits, Hades (
cf. sense 2 b).
| 1616 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems xvii. 26 Glorefied amidst the schads dewyne. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 726 The youth essay'd To stop her flight, and strain the flying shade. 1742 Gray Eton 4 Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry's holy Shade. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne iii. 85 Lucian..allows only a foot to each of the shades. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 299 Peace to his hallowed shade! 1879 C. F. Keary Dawn Hist. x. 149 A journey after death to reach the home of shades. |
b. A spectre, phantom.
rare.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 42 Fairies blacke, gray, greene, and white, You Moone-shine reuellers, and shades of night. |
c. Orig., in humorous invocation of the spirit of a deceased person, as likely to be horrified or amazed by some action or occurrence. Now
usu. in
pl. and no longer exclusively in humorous use. Also
loosely, with reference to some person or thing in the past of which a present event is reminiscent.
| 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris (ed. 4) 167 Oh, shade of the Cheesemonger! [Note. One of the Fancy, who..was killed..at Waterloo.] 1863 W. Phillips Sp. i. 8 Shades of Hugh Peters and John Cotton, save us from such pulpits! 1866 Wynter Our Social Bees Ser. ii. 96 Shade of my aunt! why, her Dresden china poodle dog cost more money. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street xviii. 183 Shade of Tilda! not a bud but would outvalue your entire stock. 1928 H. Crane Let. 22 Feb. (1965) 317 A paean from Venusberg! Oy-oy-oy! I have just had my ninth snifter of Scotch. O shades of Bert Savoy! 1968 Listener 25 July 98/2 The persistent..demand..for a major change in the relationship between a free people and the state, for an end to arbitrary, secretive and alien government and for the restoration and maintenance of free institutions. Shades of Disraeli, maybe. 1977 Times 26 Nov. 4/3 Colleges.. were..conducting campaigns to ban Jewish societies... Shades of Nazi Germany (he said). 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance xxiv. 238 There's a fridge, but it doesn't work. Shades of Singapore. |
7. = silhouette n. 1. Now chiefly
Hist.| 1781 Advt. in N. & Q. (1900) Ser. ix. VI. 356/2 Old Shades reduced with Care and Expedition. 1793 Holcroft Lavater's Physiogn. xlii. 219 No art can attain to the truth of the shade taken with precision. 1809 ‘J. A. Andersen’ Dane's Excurs. I. 22 Lord Nelson pointed out to me a profile, and then observed ‘You see it is but a shade: yet I had great difficulty in obtaining it’. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 8/1. 1960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 255/1 Edward Foster of Derby often painted faces in brown, blue or some other colour, and unless details are shown in the faces, such may also be termed shades. 1970 Oxf. Compan. Art 1065/1 The great vogue of silhouette portraits (more often known in England as ‘shades’) came between 1750 and 1850. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 513/1 Anything but an average shade, it is, none-the-less, a competent head-and-shoulders in strict profile. |
III. Protection from glare and heat.
8. a. Cover afforded by the interposition of some opaque or semi-opaque body between an object and light, heat, etc.;
esp. the shelter from the sun afforded by trees; quasi-
concr. (
sing. and pl.) overshadowing foliage.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xxxv. 8 Manna bearn soðlice symle hopiað to þæm sceade þinra fiðera. 1340 Ayenb. 95 Þis trau is to alowe and to louie uor manye þinges. Vor þe rote... And uor his uayre ssed. c 1350 Will. Palerne 22 Þe buschys þat..lent grete schade. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 42 When his souldiers saide, the enimies did shoote arrowes so thicke that the sunne was couered, He aunswered: Then let vs fighte in the shade. 1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 108 Fayre braunched trees, ouershadowing y⊇ waters with a coole & pleasant shade. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 111 Vnder the shade of melancholly boughes. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 303 In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High overarch't imbowr. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 458 The canal ought not to be under shade. 1841 James Brigand i, The high swelling of the mountains round, still gave a pleasant shade to one side of the valley. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. iii. §19 Too much light impels us to seek the shade. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 431 Printing..should be done in shade by preference. |
| fig. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 28 There's not I thinke a subiect That sits in heart-greefe and uneasinesse Vnder the sweet shade of your gouernment. 1789 W. Blake Songs Innoc., Cradle Song 1 Sweet dreams, form a shade O'er my lovely infant's head! 1832 Longfellow Coplas de Manrique liii, And he, the good man's shield and shade. |
b. in the shade: in a position screened from the direct action of the sun's rays; opposed to
in the sun. Also
fig.| 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 130 If from his youth he..hath not bin brought vp in the shade, but hath endured stormes, cold, and extreame parching heate [etc.]. a 1700 Evelyn Diary June 1645, One may walk all round it, dry, and in the shade. 1826 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 371 The patient distinctly perceives the light, and can even plainly discern in the shade,..large objects, or bright colours. 1883 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene i. xv. (ed. 6) 435 Two maximum thermometers are issued—one to observe the greatest heat in the sun, the other in the shade. |
9. a. A place sheltered from the sun; chiefly, a piece of ground overshadowed by trees. Now rare
exc. in
collective plural, with poetical colouring.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 284 Þone man sceal mid linenan claþe befealdan & on sceade ahon oððet he ᵹedriᵹed beon mæᵹe. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 3800 A kniȝt þat zephall was callid fand in a cole schade A litill drysnyng of dewe. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 140 b, In the noone time.. you must driue them to the valleies and shades. 1646 Crashaw Delights Wks. (1904) 126 No lone shade, but rings With chatting Birds delicious murmurings. 1705 Addison Italy, Brescia 61 Corn, that in these warm countries ripens much better among the Mulberry Shades, than if it were expos'd to the open Sun. 1830 J. G. Strutt Sylva Brit. 59 The respectability which leafy shades, of apparently long standing, always confer on a habitation. 1845 Kitto Cycl. Bibl. Lit. s.v. Egypt (1849) I. 599/2 The climate is..exceedingly hot..; a shade is not easily found. |
b. transf. A retired spot. Hence, an abode sheltered from the world, a quiet habitation. Chiefly
pl. Now only
poet. or rhetorical.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 1 Let vs seeke out some desolate shade, & there Weepe our sad bosomes empty. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 536 Delighting in nothing but in ease, in shades, in dancing and drinking. c 1710 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Hewet (1887) I. 30 People mistake very much in placing peace in woods and shades. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, Proposals, etc. 48 Hail to those Shades where, in our golden Age, The godlike Sidney pen'd the deathless Page. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 180 ¶9 Men bred in shades and silence..may be allowed to feel terror at personal danger. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Poor Relations, In the depth of college shades..or in his lonely chamber, the poor student shrunk from observation. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. i, Sought the retired shades of Cherbury. |
c. In
dial. use: A meadow open to the breeze, into which cattle are turned in hot weather.
| 1806 [see single n. 2]. a 1847 in F. Sheldon Minstrelsy Eng. Border 421 He raced thro' reise and shad. 1893 Cornhill Mag. June 591 When they say the cattle come ‘to shade’ they mean they seek a spot where they are open to the cooling influences of water and breeze. |
10. the Shades: originally, a name for wine and beer vaults with a drinking-bar, either underground or sheltered from the sun by an arcade. Hence subsequently used, both in England and in the
U.S., as a name for a retail liquor shop, or a drinking-bar attached to a hotel.
| 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Dict. Turf, Shades (the) at London-bridge are under Fishmongers' hall. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 315 In the cities Shades are perhaps the most numerous. 1882 E. Edwards Words, Facts & Phrases 507 Shades... The name originated at Brighton... Numbers of other publicans, in London and elsewhere, adopted the name ‘Shades’, which is now fully established in the language as a synonym for wine vaults. |
11. Something which affords protection from light, heat, etc.
a. A shelter from wind and weather, a screen from excessive heat or cold. Also,
U.S. a window-blind.
| 1624 Capt. Smith's Virginia iii. vii. 73 To keepe vs from the winde we made a shade of another Mat. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 349 The first who invented a Shade in the Theatre. 1814 T. Haynes Treat. Strawberry, etc. (ed. 2) 70 Such shade or skreen will admit of being removed and taken away. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xviii, A window opened from the hall, and to-day, though a rose-coloured shade was lowered, the sash had been raised. 1894 Howells Trav. fr. Altruria 126 The windows had paper shades. |
b. A lace scarf for the head worn by women.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Shade,..an Ornament for a Woman's Head. 1738 Boston News Let. in Alice M. Earle Costume Col. Times (1894) 213 Worsted Shades. 1753 Ibid., White Paris net shades. 1755 Ibid. 214 Gauze for Shades. 1766 [Anstey] Bath Guide iii. 76 All that Fancy's self has feign'd In a Band-Box is contain'd: Painted Lawns and chequer'd Shades. 1800 E. S. Bowne Girl's Life (1888) 42 Why can't you go and see McLellan's lace shades? Perhaps he may let you have one reasonably. 1868 Lady Verney Stone Edge vii. 81 Lydia appeared in her black ‘shade’ (a sort of mantle) and hood. |
c. A dome-shaped cover of glass to protect ornaments from dust or accidental injury.
| 1705 Hauksbee in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2130 A Shade (as they generally call such as are put o're Images to keep them from Dust). 1863 Kinglake Crimea (ed. 3) I. xiv. §8. 267 One shot broke the mirror over the chimney-piece, another the shade of the clock. 1894 Morrison Mean Streets 115 A ‘shade of fruit’—a cone of waxen grapes and apples under a glass cover. |
d. A globe or cylinder of some semi-transparent substance placed over the flame of a candle, lamp or gas-jet to soften or diffuse the light or to protect the flame from draughts; also, a screen of silk, paper, metal, etc., supported upon a light framework and placed above an illuminant to reflect, concentrate, or soften the light. Also (Westminster School), a lamp with a fixed shade.
wall shade = sconce n.1| 1780 Hickey's Bengal Gaz. 8 Apr. (Y.) Borrowed last Month by a Person or Persons unknown..a very elegant Pair of Candle Shades...—N.B. The Shades have private marks. 1789 I. Munro Narr. Milit. Operat. 186 His tent is furnished with..a folding-table, a pair of shades for his candles [etc.]. 1825–9 Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor III. xxi. 251 It was well lighted up, with many wall-shades and standing-shades. 1884 Forshall Westminster Sch. 64 The Juniors had then..to clean the ‘shades’ of the Seniors and third Election. 1891 Hardy Tess liii, The two customary candles were burning under their green shades in the Vicar's study. |
e. A covering worn to protect the eye from light (see
quot. 1857). Also
pl., sunglasses, tinted glasses. (
colloq., chiefly
U.S.).
| 1801 Nelson Let. to Lady Hamilton 28 Jan., He has directed me..to have green shades for my eyes. 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 71 The dear Comte de Ségur, with a green shade over his eyes, and almost blind. 1857 Barwell Care of Sick 80 The proper method is to use what is called a shade, made of a piece of cardboard, large enough to hang over the eye. 1958 Amer. Speech XXXIII. 225 Less frequently used among nonmusicians (primarily for lack of an occasion) are shades (dark glasses). 1965 N.Y. Times 11 Apr. e14/6 Your teen-age daughter asks what you think of her ‘shades’, which you are canny enough to know are her sunglasses. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 10 Apr. 1/4 ‘Hiya, Rog,’ says somebody else, popping up clip-on shades. 1980 G. V. Higgins Kennedy for Defense vi. 68, I looked at Emerson, hiding behind his shades and his imported-cigarette smoke. |
f. The part of a head-dress that projects in front so as to shade the eyes; the peak of a cap.
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xiii, The projecting shade of a curch, or coif. |
g. In scientific apparatus: a shutter or other mechanical means of intercepting light falling upon or through an object.
| 1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 74, I likewise drew a shade over the objective end of the microscope. 1848 Knapp's Chem. Technol. I. 156 Reflectors, shades, &c. |
h. (See
quot. 1894.)
| 1894 T. Elliston Organs & Tuning 127 Shade, a flap of metal at the top of a reed pipe to regulate the power, at the top of a flue pipe to tune by—also applied when the tone, pitch, or power of a pipe is affected through being shaded or shadowed by an obstruction. 1925 H. F. Milne How to build Small Two-Manual Chamber Pipe Organ 127 The pipes in many reed stops are of an inverted conical shape, and the regulating device may take the form of either a cap or shade. 1951 R. Whitworth Organ Stops & their Uses i. 13 The pipe represented at letter L is the much over-used swell oboe for 4 ft C. The bell and its shade on the top should be noticed. |
IV. attrib. and
Comb. 12. a. Simple
attrib., as (sense 8)
shade-mantle,
shade-side; (sense 8 b)
shade-heat; (sense 9)
shade-plot; (sense 11)
shade-frame,
shade-stone;
b. objective, as
shade-giving,
shade-loving,
shade-seeking adjs.| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Shade-frame. A frame for the partial shading of a seed-bed. |
| 1859 Lang Wand. India 282 A clump of *shade-giving mango trees. |
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 249 We distinguish between radiant or sun heat, and *shade or air heat. |
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 264 Ferns and other *shade-loving plants. |
| 1880 O. Crawfurd Portugal 318 Detached clouds..shall throw their *shade⁓mantles on the land. |
| 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 73 Thou Tityr, at ease in a *shade plott. |
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village II. 173 That..cold-braving, *shade-seeking plant. |
| 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh vi. 429 The artist's eye, That keeps the *shade-side of the thing it loves. |
| 1904 H. C. Butler Archit. & other Arts 126 Another interesting detail of the domestic architecture of Northern Syria is the shed or *shade-stone frequently found over the doorways. |
c. Instrumental, as
shade-softened adj.| 1866 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 138 Very level clouds, long pelletted sticks of shade-softened grey in the West. |
13. Special comb.:
shade-bearer, a plant which is shade-tolerant;
shade-bearing a. = shade-tolerant adj. below;
shade-card, a card illustrating the range of colours in which goods are supplied; also
fig.;
shade-cord U.S., a blind-cord;
shade-deck, an upper deck of a passenger vessel, covered at the top but open at the side, forming a sheltered promenade in hot weather; hence
shade-decked a.;
shade-fish = maigre n.;
shade-lover,
plant, a plant which thrives in shady conditions;
shade maximum, the highest temperature recorded in a single day by a thermometer placed in the shade;
shadepull U.S., a cord for pulling down a window-shade;
shade-reading, the indication of a thermometer protected from direct influence of the sun's rays;
shade-tolerant a., able to grow normally in the shade of taller plants;
shade-tree, a tree planted for the purpose of affording shade.
| 1891 *Shade-bearer [see light-demander s.v. light n. 16]. 1959 Times 7 Dec. (Agric. Suppl.) p. viii/4 Beech can be the underplant used for amenity work, because it is a shade-bearer. |
| 1889 W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. 117 Certain species cannot thrive unless they enjoy a large measure of light throughout life, while others will bear a certain amount of shade. Accordingly, the former are called ‘light demanding’, and the latter *shade bearing species. 1975 T. C. Whitmore Tropical Rain Forests of Far East vi. 71/2 The population structure of light-demanding and shade-bearing species in a stand of high forest is markedly different. |
| 1895 British Warehouseman Feb. 38/2 A new and very attractive *shade⁓card, comprising all the newest tints. 1955 Radio Times 22 Apr. 22/2 A free illustrated colour booklet about Snowcem and a shade card. 1961 P. Mason Common Sense about Race iv. i. 120 There are words conveying..subtle nuances of skin-colour..a kind of verbal shade⁓card. |
| 1904 J. A. Riis Roosevelt xii. 298 When he passed each window [he] would seize the *shade-cord and give a little abstracted pull. |
| 1894 Times 22 Oct. 7/5 The boats are carried on a *shade deck, which forms a covered promenade. 1894 W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. (ed. 3) 382 A tank steamer of the ‘shade-deck’ type. |
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 10) XXXII. 550/1 Most of the latter have a continuous upper deck above the main deck: if this be of light construction..the vessel is called a *Shade-decked Vessel. |
| 1722 Diaper tr. Oppian's Halieut. i. 214 Here..tim'rous *Shade-Fish the blind Haunts pursue. 1863 Couch Brit. Fishes II. 54 Sciæna. Shade Fish. Maigre. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. (Suppl.) 4/2 Other worthwhile *shade-lovers—the climbing fig..and the sweetheart plant. |
| 1896 Daily News 20 July 7/3 In London the *shade maximum on Friday was only 67 degrees. |
| 1926 H. A. Spoehr Photosynthesis ii. 103 It would be interesting to determine whether *shade plants such as the Oxalis..do not utilize a greater proportion of the light absorbed than plants growing in the direct sunlight. 1974 Shade plant [see solarization 1 c]. |
| 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. vi. 202 The housefly..drawn to a new destination the instant it halted, from the *shade-pull to the floor, from there to the lampshade. 1973 Philadelphia Inquirer (Today Suppl.) 7 Oct. 41/3 Meg is replacing such geegaws with tasteful black shadepulls. |
| 1897 Ibid. 21 Sept. 5/2 There was no *shade reading below 40 deg. reported. |
| 1952 J. D. U. Ward Woodman's Diary 310 Some other species, mostly in the *shade-tolerant category..allow a wide latitude for neglect and error. 1964 V. J. Chapman Coastal Veg. ix. 214 On Fair Isle, Red campion (Melandrium rubrum) grows well in the fescue swards, probably because being a woodland species it is shade-tolerant. |
| 1806 Balance 22 July 228 (Thornton Amer. Gloss.) It is to be regretted that a *shade tree, useful and ornamental as the poplar, should be in danger. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 179 Through plantations of fine coffee, protected by the usual ‘shade-trees’. |
▪ II. shade, v.1 (
ʃeɪd)
Also 4
schade, 8–9
dial. shad.
[f. shade n.] † 1. intr. To cast a shadow.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 479 May no grysliche gost glyde þer hit [the cross] shadeweþ [MS. M. schadeþ]. |
2. a. trans. To screen from light or heat, to protect from the glare or heat of the sun's rays.
| c 1400 in 26 Pol. Poems (1904) 143 A place I fonde shadyd with bowes I-bent. c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 65 The grettest trees that any man may fynde In forest to shade the deere for her comfort. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 120 Barges, shaded with damasks, and stuffes of India. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 16 Here wanton Mincius..shades his happy Banks with bending Reeds. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 58 They cannot well stand too dry, if they are but shaded in dry Weather. 1820 Shelley Orpheus 12 The overhanging rock That shades the pool. 1874 A. O'Shaughnessy Music & Moonlight 20 Aloe, I made thee A garden to shade thee. |
† b. To place in the shade;
refl. To take shelter from light or heat.
Obs.| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 120 b, How to feede his beastes before noone, where to shade them in the extreame heate. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 140 The Cattle..lie and shade themselves under their Boughs. |
| fig. 1639 Fuller Holy War ii. xxvi. 77 Many retired themselves to solitary places..chiefly to shade themselves from the heat of persecution. |
c. To protect (one's eyes or face) from the glare of the sun, with the hand or with something used as a screen.
| 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vi. ix, You have indeed a bad cold my love; but shade your eyes with your hat, and after dinner [etc.]. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xiii, His hand interposed between his eyes and their faces, like a man that would shade his eyesight from the level sun. 1902 ‘Michael Fairless’ Roadmender 74 He shaded his keen old blue eyes, and looked away across the water. |
† d. transf. To overshadow protectingly; to protect. ?
Obs.| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. i. 160 Now good Angels..shade thy person Vnder their blessed wings. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 266 Leave not the faithful side That gave thee being, stil shades thee and protects. 1701 De Foe Trueborn Eng. 18 Whose Female Glories shade them from my Song. |
¶ e. Misused for: To shelter (from wind).
rare.
| 1845 J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific viii. 102 They [the hills] shaded it from the trade winds. |
f. To cover with a screen, to protect (a light) from draughts.
| 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. viii, A large chandelier, which, shaded opposite to his face, threw all the light to the other side of the table. c 1885 C. Rossetti Sick Child's Medit. 4 Fresh air blows in, and mother shades the light. |
3. To conceal from view; to hide partially, as by a shadow; to veil, obscure; to disguise.
| c 1530 Crt. of Love 1272 ‘How is’, (quod I) ‘that he [Prevy Thought] is shaded thus With yonder cloth, I not of what colour?’ 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. x. 42 Through hollow caues, that no man mote discouer For the thicke shrubs, which did them alwaies shade From view of liuing wight. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 277 A Seraph wing'd; six wings he wore, to shade His lineaments Divine. 1704 Swift T. Tub Introd. §3 All this he cunningly shades under the following allegory. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab i. 41 Her golden tresses shade The bosom's stainless pride. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. iii, A Lady shaded in broad gipsy-hat. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 72 Shaded from view on the South side. |
4. a. To cover with shadow, to darken. Also
transf. and
fig.| 1599 Shakes., etc. Pass. Pilgr. x, Bright orient pearl, alack, too timely shaded! 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1638) 253 From this accursed root branching out so many sects as in short time infected and shaded all the orient, in an eclipse of fearfull darknesse. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxiv, Never..had she watched with so much pleasure..twilight shade and darkness veil the scene. 1700 Prior Carm. Sec. xii, The Piece by Virtue's equal Hand is wrought, Mix'd with no Crime, and shaded with no Fault. 1827 Scott Highl. Widow v, A melancholy smile shaded his cheek. |
b. To appear like a shadow upon.
| a 1704 T. Brown On Duke Ormond's Recov. Wks. 1730 I. 49 Ee'r rising down to shade his cheeks began. 1750 tr. Leonardus's Mirr. Stones 132 Nassonites is a stone of a sanguin colour, marked or shaded with black veins. |
c. To cast one's shadow upon, to be close to.
nonce-use.
| 1717 Pope Iliad x. 183 But sleep'st thou now? when from yon' Hills the Foe Hangs o'er the Fleet, and shades our Walls below. |
5. In occasional figurative uses.
a. To cast into the shade; to surpass, eclipse.
b. To obscure, dim the lustre of (good qualities).
c. To throw a veil over (faults).
| c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Wks. (1862) 49 This had like't o shad awth' tother! 1785 Adams Let. 17 Nov. in Boswell Johnson Advt. ¶4, I wish..a few of our hero's foibles had been a little more shaded. 1813 Sk. Character (ed. 2) I. 14 His good qualities were not a little shaded by an inherent pride of ancestry, and an austerity of manners. 1865 Brierley Irkdale xiii. I. 210 Queer! It shads Guilliver ut thy feyther ust read abeawt. 1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 45 And I got to admit that Walt's radio shades mine just the least little bit. 1972 Sydney Morning Herald 26 Aug. 31/7 University slightly shade Gordon in points scored for and against. 1973 Observer 3 June 28/7 Denness, whose 534 runs in first-class matches this season have him shading even Boycott. 1975 Cork Examiner 30 May 15/1 Womble survived a bad last hurdle mistake to shade strongly challenging Glenicmurrin by a short head. |
6. To represent as by a shadow, to shadow forth, symbolize.
to shade out: to sketch faintly.
| 1591 Sidney Astrophel lxxxi, How faine would I paint thee to all mens eyes, Or of thy gifts at least shade out some part! 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. vii. 2 Calling him [Iustice] great Osyris..With fayned colours shading a true case. |
7. Painting and
Drawing. To represent the shade or shadow on (an object); to furnish (a picture) with the indications of shade. In black-and-white or monochrome work: To furnish (a drawing) with the gradated dark markings (produced by lines more or less close together, rubbing of crayon or pencil, a wash of tint, or the like) indicating shade and colour of the object. Hence
occas. to darken (parts of a diagram, etc.) in a similar manner.
to shade up: to fill in (an outline sketch) with markings indicative of contour.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 116/1 After the learner has made himself..perfect in drawing outlines, his next endeavour must be to shade them properly. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 718 The perspective drawing thus produced, may then be completed, by shading it according to the manner in which the light appears to fall on the original. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair l, She buys a couple of begilt Bristol boards..and paints..a shepherd with a red waistcoat on one, and a pink face smiling in the midst of a pencil landscape—a shepherdess on the other..with a little dog, nicely shaded. 1875 Seaton Fret Cutting 64, I have not shaded the leaf to show any depth of the carving. 1886 W. N. Brown Wood Engraving 33 Filling in or ‘shading up’ with a softer and darker pencil and washes of Indian ink. |
b. to shade in: to insert by shading.
fig.| 1878 Irish Monthly VI. 506 And then the eloquent Member for Louth proceeds to shade in the darker tints of this companion picture. |
8. To colour (a textile fabric) with shades gradually passing one into another.
| 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 495 Shading [of ribbons] 6d. per gross extra. 1845 Mrs. M. J. Howell Hand-bk. Dress-making 27 Observe, in silks and satins that are shaded, there is an up and a down. |
9. a. intr. Of a colour, hence
gen.: To pass by imperceptible degrees
to or
into something else; also with
away,
off. Also
to shade away: to disappear gradually.
| 1819 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. viii. 272 It will perhaps shade off into a mild chronic complaint. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 162 The colour of the skin is a golden yellow shading into green. 1855 Brewster Newton I. v. 123 Three primary spectra..having their intensity of illumination and maximum at different points, and shading to nothing at their extremities. 1880 E. White Certainty Relig. 80 Their own teaching was at once definite and vague, carrying a central lustre and a dimmer enfolding radiance, shading away into the Infinite. 1901 N. Amer. Rev. 15 Feb. 235 No other nation has company officers of the average ability and education of our own; but the superiority shades away as their service progresses. |
b. trans. To change or make to pass by imperceptible degrees
into something else; also with
away,
off. Also
to shade away,
shade down, to soften the abruptness of (a statement) by qualifying words.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy iii, A touch of coarseness and hardness about the manners of the times, which has since, in a great degree, been softened and shaded away. 1864 Bowen Logic x. 336 Their various sorts and degrees are shaded into each other imperceptibly. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets viii. 235 The thoughts of Aristophanes are not shaded down, concealed or wrapped up in symbols. |
c. trans. To make a slight or gradual reduction in (a price, value, etc.). Also
intr. of shares, prices, etc.: to decline slightly in value, cost, etc.
| 1875 Chicago Tribune 27 Oct. 6/4 Prices are not strong, the quotations being shaded on fair orders. 1899 Pitman's Commercial Correspondence & Commercial English xii. 119 Please, therefore, do your best to deliver the finest quality you possibly can at the figure named, or, if you can shade the price a little, it would be advisable to do so. 1903 Boston Transcript 24 Oct. 22 To spur his freight traffic manager to get business without shading rates. 1928 New Statesman 28 July (Finance Suppl.) p. x, The newsprint and pulp industry..has..been developed rather faster than the demand, with the result that prices have been shaded. 1966 Times 17 June 16/4 If a favourite or near-favourite was being quoted at two-to-one as its price in the ring and on the rails, and if a certain bookie had not got it in his book, far from ‘shading the odds’, he had to increase them to attract money on that horse for his book. 1973 ‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal iv. 90 When he'd bought, Consolidated had already been shading at 130 and Maltsters had been on the upswing at 146. 1978 Daily Tel. 29 Mar. 21 Banks may be invited..to shade the margin over base rate which they charge private customers and small businesses. 1981 Times 7 May 24 General Accident..shaded 10p to 334p. |
d. trans. To modify the pitch of (an open organ stop) by placing something near the top of the pipe.
rare.
| 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 395/1 Shading of pipes, the placing of anything so near the top of an organ pipe as to affect the vibrating column of air which it contains. 1894 [see shade n. 11 h]. |
Add:
[9.] e. To surpass (a particular age or weight) by a narrow margin; to eclipse or merit by a shade.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1934 in Webster. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? iv. 70 Pancake couldn't have been over five foot five and looked as if he shaded two hundred pounds. 1947 C. Amory Proper Bostonians vi. 123 During the Civil War, then a lady shading sixty, she still had enough of her buoyant charm to sell kisses for charity. 1957 D. Niland Call me when Cross turns Over vii. 172 She's pretty, sure—but I don't know, I think I can hold my own with her... Her figure's no better than mine; in fact, I'd shade her a bit, I'd say. 1976 New Motorcycle Monthly Oct. 10/3 The CB400F just shaded a five-star rating, so we must class the CB550F as [four stars]. 1986 New Yorker 2 June 20/3 All the women who got into what they thought were the glamorous occupations and find themselves shading thirty-five or forty and alone. |
▪ III. shade, v.2 Forms: 3–5
schade, 9
shade.
[Northern repr. OE. scádan, sceádan: see shed v.] † 1. intr. To distinguish
between.
Obs. rare—1.
| c 1300 Cursor M. 22930 Wel bituix þam can he schade. |
† 2. trans. To shed, scatter abroad.
Obs. rare—1.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2329 in Macro Plays 146 Gostly grace I spylle & schade. |
3. Sc. To part (the hair). Also
transf.| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, Hastily shading her dishevelled hair back from her wasted, but still beautiful countenance. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 116 He'd shade the binwud door aside. 1869 [McLennan] Peasant Life Ser. i. 265 To have her hair combed and shaded. |
▪ IV. shade doubtful form of
shoad.