Shāde1, n.
n. [A.-S. scadu, scado, sceadu, scad, scead, O. Sax. scado, Goth. skadus, D. schaduw, Prov. Ger. schad, schaden, schatt, O. H. Ger. scato, M. H. Ger. schate, N. H. Ger. schatten, Icel. skuggi, Sw. skugga, skygd, Dan. skygge, W. ysgawd, allied to Gr. σκιά, a shade, shadow, σκότος, darkness.]
Sense 1. Comparative obscurity owing to the interception, cutting off, or interruption of the rays of light; darkness caused by the intervention of something between the space contemplated and the source of light; shadow which is caused by such interception.
Shade differs from shadow, as it implies no particular form or definite limit; whereas a shadow represents in form the object which intercepts the light. Hence, when we say, let us resort to the shade of a tree, we have no reference to its form; but when we speak of measuring a pyramid or other object by its shadow, we have reference to its extent.
Sense 2. Darkness; obscurity; as, the shades of night; the shade of the earth constitutes the darkness of night.
Sense 3. An obscure place; a spot not exposed to light or motion; hence, a secluded retreat.
Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Shak.
Sense 4. Protection; shelter; cover.
Sleep under a pine-tree's shade. Shak.
Sense 5. The figure of any thing formed upon a surface by interception of the rays of light; a shadow.
Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue. Pope.
Sense 6. The soul, after its separation from the body; — so called because the ancients supposed it to be perceptible to the sight, not to the touch; a spirit; a ghost; as, the shades of departed heroes, “Swift as thought the flitting shade.” Dryden.
Sense 7. (Paint.) The darker portion of a picture; less illuminated part; deficiency or absence of illumination.
Sense 8. Degree or variation of color, as darker or lighter.
White, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees; or shades and mixtures, as green, come only in by the eyes. Locke.
Sense 9. A very minute difference; a scarcely perceptible amount of change; degree; as, coffee is a shade higher.
Every shade of religious and political opinion had its own head-quarters. Macaulay.
Sense 10. A screen; something that intercepts light or heat.