Definition of "shade"

shade

/ʃeɪd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural shades
1. (uncountable) Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.
  Quotations
  Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
2. (countable) Something that blocks light, particularly in a window.
3. (countable) A variety of a color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint).
  Quotations
  Thus light and colours, as white, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees or shades, and mixtures, as green, scarlet, purple, sea-green, and the rest, come in only by the eyes […]
  1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […]
4. (figuratively) A subtle variation in a concept.
  Quotations
  new shades and combinations of thought
  1823, Thomas De Quincey, Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected. No. V. On the English Notices of Kant
  Every shade of religious and political opinion had its own headquarters.
  1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 3, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
5. (figuratively) An aspect that is reminiscent of something.
6. A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning
  Quotations
  Mrs. Rhodes who (so I gathered from Mr. Petherick's careful language) was perhaps just a shade of a hypochondriac, had retired to bed immediately after dinner.
  1934, Agatha Christie, Miss Marple Tells a Story
  Five feet in diameter and a shade above knee high, the center of the fragile white canvass structure is filled with […]
  1990 April 7, Wickie Stamps, “The 'Temple' Is Familiar”, in Gay Community News, page 12
7. (chiefly literary and fantasy) A ghost or specter; a spirit.
  Quotations
  Swift as thought the flitting shade / Thro' air his momentary journey made.
  1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
  Still, Birch House (a sop to the shade of the murdered Perak Resident) had no more than its normal share of flagellation[.]
  1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 39
8. (countable) A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.
9. (uncountable, originally gay slang) Subtle insults.
  Quotations
  Shade is: "I don't tell you you're ugly, but I don't have to tell you because you know you're ugly." And that's shade.
  1990, Jennie Livingston, director, Paris Is Burning, spoken by Dorian Corey
10. (countable) A cover around or above a light bulb, a lampshade.
  Quotations
  Lighting was unimaginative for the standard stock with naked tungsten filament bulbs and metal reflectors. However, all compartments had individual reading lights above the seats with attractive glass shades.
  1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 398
11. (historical) A candle-shade.
  Quotations
  I am now finishing this letter by candle-light, with the help of a handkerchief tied over the shade.
  1817, T. Munro, Life, i. 511
  His tent is furnished with a good large bed, mattress, pillow, &c., a few camp-stools or chairs, a folding table, a pair of shades for his candles, six or seven trunks with table equipage, his stock of linen (at least 24 shirts); some dozens of wine, brandy, and gin; tea, sugar, and biscuit; and a hamper of live poultry and his milch-goat.
  1789, Munro's Narrative, 186
verb
third-person singular simple present shades, present participle shading, simple past and past participle shaded
1. (transitive) To shield (someone or something) from light.
2. (intransitive, rare) To shield oneself from light.
3. (transitive) To alter slightly.
4. (intransitive) To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color.
  Quotations
  This small group will be most conveniently treated with the emotional division, into which it shades.
  1886, Edmund Gurney, Phantasms of the Living
5. (intransitive, baseball, of a defensive player) To move slightly from one's normal fielding position.
6. (transitive) To darken, particularly in drawing.
7. To surpass by a narrow margin.
8. (transitive, graphical user interface) To reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible.
9. (transitive, slang) To throw shade, to subtly insult someone.
  Quotations
  The lyrics have prompted headlines about her “shading” Musk with a “spicy dig”, but I reckon the guy got off lightly.
  2021 December 8, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elon Musk is learning a hard lesson: never date a musician”, in The Guardian‎
10. (transitive, obsolete) To shelter; to cover from injury; to protect; to screen.
  Quotations
  Ere in our own house I do shade my head.
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
11. (transitive, obsolete) To present a shadow or image of; to shadow forth; to represent.
  Quotations
  [The goddess] in her person cunningly did shade / That part of Justice which is Equity.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 3

Definition of "shade"

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