shadow Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun shade within clear boundaries
  2. noun an unilluminated area
    dark; darkness.
    • he moved off into the darkness
  3. noun something existing in perception only
    phantom; fantasm; apparition; phantasma; phantasm.
    • a ghostly apparition at midnight
  4. noun a premonition of something adverse
    • a shadow over his happiness
  5. noun an indication that something has been present
    vestige; tincture; trace.
    • there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim
    • a tincture of condescension
  6. noun refuge from danger or observation
    • he felt secure in his father's shadow
  7. noun a dominating and pervasive presence
    • he received little recognition working in the shadow of his father
  8. noun a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements
    shadower; tail.
  9. noun an inseparable companion
    • the poor child was his mother's shadow
  10. verb follow, usually without the person's knowledge
    • The police are shadowing her
  11. verb cast a shadow over
    shade off; shade.
  12. verb make appear small by comparison
    overshadow; dwarf.
    • This year's debt dwarfs that of last year

WordNet

Shad"ow noun
Etymology
Originally the same word as shade. See Shade.
Definitions
  1. Shade within defined limits; obscurity or deprivation of light, apparent on a surface, and representing the form of the body which intercepts the rays of light; as, the shadow of a man, of a tree, or of a tower. See the Note under Shade, n., 1.
  2. Darkness; shade; obscurity.
    Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise. Denham.
  3. A shaded place; shelter; protection; security.
    In secret shadow from the sunny ray, On a sweet bed of lilies softly laid. Spenser.
  4. A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water. Shak.
  5. That which follows or attends a person or thing like a shadow; an inseparable companion; hence, an obsequious follower.
    Sin and her shadow Death. Milton.
  6. A spirit; a ghost; a shade; a phantom. "Hence, horrible shadow!" Shak.
  7. An imperfect and faint representation; adumbration; indistinct image; dim bodying forth; hence, mystical reprresentation; type.
    The law having a shadow of good things to come. Heb. x. 1.
    [Types] and shadows of that destined seed. Milton.
  8. A small degree; a shade. "No variableness, neither shadow of turning." James i. 17.
  9. An uninvited guest coming with one who is invited. A Latinism Nares.
    I must not have my board pastered with shadows That under other men's protection break in Without invitement. Massinger.
    Ps. xxiii. 4.
Shad"ow transitive verb
Etymology
OE. shadowen, AS. sceadwian. See adow, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Shadowed ; present participle & verbal noun Shadowing
Definitions
  1. To cut off light from; to put in shade; to shade; to throw a shadow upon; to overspead with obscurity.
    The warlike elf much wondered at this tree, So fair and great, that shadowed all the ground. Spenser.
  2. To conceal; to hide; to screen. R.
    Let every soldier hew him down a bough. And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow The numbers of our host. Shak.
  3. To protect; to shelter from danger; to shroud.
    Shadoving their right under your wings of war. Shak.
  4. To mark with gradations of light or color; to shade.
  5. To represent faintly or imperfectly; to adumbrate; hence, to represent typically.
    Augustus is shadowed in the person of neas. Dryden.
  6. To cloud; to darken; to cast a gloom over.
    The shadowed livery of the burnished sun. Shak.
    Why sad? I must not see the face O love thus shadowed. Beau & Fl.
  7. To attend as closely as a shadow; to follow and watch closely, especially in a secret or unobserved manner; as, a detective shadows a criminal.

Webster 1913