Word of the Day: Shade
shade
shade / shād
noun
1. no plural, shelter from the sun or light
Great trees give more shade than fruit.
German Proverb
2. diminished light; partial darkness
Theory is continually the precursor of truth; we must pass through the twilight and its shade, to arrive at the full and perfect day.
James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, 1286 – 1330
3. a slight variation in the intensity or darkness of a color
A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.
Henry David Thoreau, 1817 – 1862
4. a slight or subtle difference
A whole lifetime was too short to bring out, the full flavour; to extract every ounce of pleasure, every shade of meaning.
Virginia Woolf. 1882 – 1941
5. an extremely small amount
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
Voltaire, 1694 – 1778
6. a darker area in a picture or drawing, representing a shadow
In every picture there should be shade as well as light.
James Boswell, 1740 – 1795
7. an object used to deflect an amount of light or heat
If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.
Tom Peters. 1942 –
8. (informal) shades, sunglasses
I’m doing all right, getting good grades
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades
Lyrics from Song “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” by Pat MacDonald, 1952 –
9. shades, dark shadows at the end of the day
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ‘mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device, Excelsior!
From “Excelsior” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807 – 1882
10. shades, something that prompts a recollection of a past situation or person
The heroic example of other days is in great part the source of the courage of each generation; and men walk up composedly to the most perilous enterprises, beckoned onward by the shades of the brave that were.
Arthur Helps, 1813 – 1875
11. a ghost; spirit of the departed
Deserted libraries hold the shades of writers who worked within, and are haunted by their absence.
Alberto Manguel, 1948 –
12. shadows
Morn with her rosy locks dispels the shades of night, and the sun puts to flight the stars, lighting up the world.
Latin Proverb
13. in certain religions, the world inhabited by spirits of the dead
When I reach the shades at last it will no doubt astonish Satan to discover, on thumbing my dossier, that I was a member of the Y.M.C.A.
H. L. Mencken, 1880 – 1956
verb
1. to block or protect from a bright light or heat
The place was shaded by incense cedars, Douglas spruces, and black oaks.
“The Birds” ‘Animal Life in the Yosemite’, www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/grpo/birds182.htm
2. to make darker or less perceptible
His hair was straight and black, and a thin spiky mustache shaded his upper lip.
From “The Great Alone” by Janet Dailey, 1944 – 2013
3. to add darker or more intense tones to a drawing or painting to represent shadows
You will want to shade a color when you’re painting a shadow or fabric fold in a subject’s clothing, for example.
Colette Pitcher, “How to Darken Acrylic Paint Colors by Shading”, ‘Acrylic Painting for Dummies’
4. to slightly change or cause to change slightly
There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact.
Gene Siskel, 1946 – 1999
5. to slightly reduce
Mr. Carpenter declined to accept that amount, but finally “shaded” the price to $7400 and signed an agreement for a deed to be given within two days.
“The Armory Site” ‘Fitchburg Sentinal’, December 16, 1890
