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Entry 16 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Shade

/(shād)/ · IPA /ʃeɪd/
01 n. Comparative obscurity owing to interception or interruption of the rays of light; partial darkness caused by the intervention of something …
  1. 1.
    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.
  2. 2.
    Darkness; obscurity; -- often in the plural.
    “The shades of night were falling fast.” — Longfellow.
  3. 3.
    An obscure place; a spot not exposed to light; hence, a secluded retreat.
    “Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty.” — Shak.
  4. 4.
    That which intercepts, or shelters from, light or the direct rays of the sun; hence, also, that which protects from heat or currents of air; a screen; protection; shelter; cover; as, a lamp shade.
    “The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.” — Ps. cxxi. 5.
    “Sleep under a fresh tree's shade.” — Shak.
    “Let the arched knife well sharpened now assail the spreading shades of vegetables.” — J. Philips.
  5. 5.
    Shadow.[Poetic.]
    “Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue.” — Pope.
  6. 6.
    The soul after its separation from the body; -- so called because the ancients it to be perceptible to the sight, though not to the touch; a spirit; a ghost; as, the shades of departed heroes.
    “Swift as thought the flitting shade Thro' air his momentary journey made.” — Dryden.
  7. 7.
    The darker portion of a picture; a less illuminated part. See Def. 1, above.(Painting, Drawing, etc.)
  8. 8.
    Degree or variation of color, as darker or lighter, stronger or paler; as, a delicate shade of pink.
    “White, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees, or shades and mixtures, as green only in by the eyes.” — Locke.
  9. 9.
    A minute difference or variation, as of thought, belief, expression, etc.; also, the quality or degree of anything which is distinguished from others similar by slight differences; as, the shades of meaning in synonyms.
    “New shades and combinations of thought.” — De Quincey.
    “Every shade of religious and political opinion has its own headquarters.” — Macaulay.
Phrases & compounds
The Shades — the Nether World; the supposed abode of souls after leaving the body.
02 v. t. To shelter or screen by intercepting the rays of light; to keep off illumination from.
imp. & p. p. Shaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Shading
  1. 1.
    To shelter or screen by intercepting the rays of light; to keep off illumination from.
    “I went to crop the sylvan scenes, And shade our altars with their leafy greens.” — Dryden.
  2. 2.
    To shelter; to cover from injury; to protect; to screen; to hide; as, to shade one's eyes.
    “Ere in our own house I do shade my head.” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    To obscure; to dim the brightness of.
    “Thou shad'st The full blaze of thy beams.” — Milton.
  4. 4.
    To pain in obscure colors; to darken.
  5. 5.
    To mark with gradations of light or color.
  6. 6.
    To present a shadow or image of; to shadow forth; to represent.[Obs.]
    “[The goddess] in her person cunningly did shade That part of Justice which is Equity.” — Spenser.
03 v. i. To undergo or exhibit minute difference or variation, as of color, meaning, expression, etc.; to pass by slight changes; -- used chiefly wi…
  1. 1.
    To undergo or exhibit minute difference or variation, as of color, meaning, expression, etc.; to pass by slight changes; -- used chiefly with a preposition, as into, away, off.
    “This small group will be most conveniently treated with the emotional division, into which it shades.” — Edmund Gurney.