I. shade 1 /ʃeɪd/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: sceadu ]
1 . OUT OF SUNLIGHT [uncountable] slight darkness or shelter from the direct light of the sun made by something blocking it:
a plant that needs a lot of shade
in the shade (of something)
She was sitting in the shade of a large oak tree.
The temperature was over 90 degrees in the shade.
2 . FOR BLOCKING LIGHT [countable]
a) something you use to reduce or block light:
The shade on the lamp was slightly crooked.
⇨ ↑ lampshade
b) American English a covering that can be pulled down over a window SYN blind
3 . shades [plural] informal ↑ sunglasses
4 . IN A PICTURE [uncountable] the dark places in a picture:
strong contrasts of light and shade
5 . COLOUR [countable] a particular type of red, green, blue etc
shade of
a bright shade of pink
6 . shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc a meaning etc that is slightly different from other ones SYN nuance :
There is room in the Democratic Party for many shades of opinion.
7 . a shade formal very slightly
a shade too big/hot/fast etc
Matt’s clothes were just a shade too big for me.
a shade better/quicker/faster etc
The results were a shade better than we expected.
a shade over/under/above etc
She was a shade under five feet tall.
8 . shades of somebody/something used to say that someone or something reminds you of another person or thing:
The food was horrible – shades of school dinners.
9 . put somebody/something in the shade to be so good or impressive that other similar things or people seem much less important or interesting:
They’re planning a festival that will put all the others in the shade.
10 . have it made in the shade American English informal to be extremely rich – used humorously
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ colour red, blue, yellow etc:
Blue is my favourite colour.
|
Matisse was famous for his use of colour.
▪ shade a particular type of a colour:
The dress is a light shade of pink.
|
He uses different shades of green.
▪ hue /hjuː/ literary or technical a particular colour or shade of a colour:
Her face had lost its golden hue.
▪ tint a small amount of a colour in something that is mostly another colour:
He wears sunglasses that have a pinky-orange tint.
▪ tone one of the many different shades of a colour, each slightly darker, lighter, brighter etc than the next:
Carpets in neutral tones give a feeling of space.
II. shade 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to protect something from direct light:
Shading her eyes, Anita scanned the horizon.
2 . ( also shade in ) to make part of a picture or drawing darker:
She shaded in the circles in the last two letters.
shade into something phrasal verb literary
if one thing shades into another, it is difficult to know where one stops and another starts:
His impatience shaded into anger.