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shade

Pronunciation: /ʃeɪd/

The English word “shade” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.
  2. Something that blocks light, particularly in a window.
  3. A variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint).
  4. A subtle variation in a concept.
  5. An aspect that is reminiscent of something.
  6. A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning
  7. A ghost or specter; a spirit.
  8. A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.
  9. Subtle insults.
  10. A cover around or above a light bulb, a lampshade.
  11. A candle-shade.

verb

  1. To shield (someone or something) from light.
  2. To shield oneself from light.
  3. To alter slightly.
  4. To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color.
  5. To move slightly from one's normal fielding position.
  6. To darken, particularly in drawing.
  7. To win by a narrow margin.
  8. To reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible.
  9. To throw shade, to subtly insult someone.

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).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.