shade (sh d)n. 1. Light diminished in intensity as a result of the interception of the rays; partial darkness. 2. An area or a space of partial darkness. 3. Cover or shelter provided by interception by an object of the sun or its rays. 4. Any of various devices used to reduce or screen light or heat. 5. shades Slang Sunglasses. 6. Relative obscurity. 7. shades a. Dark shadows gathering at dusk: "The shades of night are falling fast" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). b. The abode of the dead; the underworld. 8. The part of a picture or photograph depicting darkness or shadow. 9. The degree to which a color is mixed with black or is decreasingly illuminated; gradation of darkness. 10. A slight difference or variation; a nuance: shades of meaning. 11. A small amount; a trace: detected a shade of bitterness in her remarks. 12. A disembodied spirit; a ghost. 13. shades A present reminder of a person or situation in the past: shades of my high-school days. v. shad·ed, shad·ing, shades v.tr. 1. To screen from light or heat. 2. To obscure or darken. 3. To cause shade in or on. 4. a. To represent degrees of shade or shadow in: shade a drawing. b. To produce (gradations of light or color) in a drawing or picture. 5. To change or vary by slight degrees: shade the meaning. 6. To make a slight reduction in: shade prices. v.intr. To pass from one quality, color, or thing to another by very slight changes or degrees. [Middle English, from Old English sceadu.] shad  er n.Synonyms: shade, penumbra, shadow, umbra, umbrage These nouns denote an area of comparative darkness resulting from the blocking of light rays: sitting in the shade; Earth's penumbra; in the shadow of the curtains; the umbra beyond the footlights; in the umbrage of a forest. See Also Synonyms at nuance. |
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