SHADE

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sceadu; akin to Old High German scato shadow, Greek skotos darkness Date: before 12th century 1. comparative darkness or obscurity owing to interception of the rays of light, relative obscurity or retirement, 2. shelter (as by foliage) from the heat and glare of sunlight, a place sheltered from the sun, an evanescent or unreal appearance, 4. plural the shadows that gather as darkness comes on, netherworld , Hades , 5. a disembodied spirit ; ghost , b. — used to signal the similarity between a previously encountered person or situation and one at hand; usually used in plural something that intercepts or shelters from light, sun, or heat: as, a device partially covering a lamp so as to reduce glare, a flexible screen usually mounted on a roller for regulating the light or the view through a window, sunglasses, 7. the reproduction of the effect of ~ in painting or drawing, a subdued or somber feature, 8. a color produced by a pigment or dye mixture having some black in it, a color slightly different from the one under consideration, 9. a minute difference or variation ; nuance , a minute degree or quantity, a facial expression of sadness or displeasure, ~less adjective II. verb (~d; shading) Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to shelter or screen by intercepting radiated light or heat, to cover with a ~, to hide partly by or as if by a shadow, to darken with or as if with a shadow, to better or exceed by a ~ ; surpass , eclipse , 5. to represent the effect of ~ or shadow on, to add shading to, to color so that the ~s pass gradually from one to another, to change by gradual transition or qualification, to reduce slightly (as a price), slant , bias , intransitive verb to pass by slight changes or imperceptible degrees, to undergo or exhibit minute difference or variation, ~r noun