Word: shadow Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe, oblique form of sċeadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz (“shade, shadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“darkness”). Doublet of shade. Cognates Cognate with Scots shedda (“shadow”), Saterland Frisian Skaad, Skade (“shade, shadow”), West Frisian skaad, skâd (“shade, shadow”), Central Franconian and Limburgish Schatte (“shadow”), Dutch schade, schaduw (“shadow”), German Schatten (“shade, shadow”), German Low German Scharr, Scharre (“shade, shadow”), Luxembourgish Schiet (“shade, shadow”), Vilamovian siota (“shadow”), Yiddish שאָטן (shotn, “shadow”), Faroese skadda (“thick wet mountain fog”), Icelandic skodda, skoddi (“shadow”), Norwegian Bokmål skodde (“fog, mist”), Norwegian Nynorsk skodde, skåddj, skåidd (“fog; ice fog”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skadus, “shadow”); also Breton skeud (“shadow; reflection; ghost”), Cornish skeus (“shadow; reflection”), Irish scáth (“shadow”), Manx scaa, skæ (“shield; shade, shadow”), Scottish Gaelic sgàth (“shade, shadow”), Latin obscurus (“dark, dusky, shadowy”), Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, “darkness, gloom”) (whence English scoto-), Belarusian сівы́ (sivý, “grey”), Czech and Slovak sivý (“grey”), Macedonian осој (osoj, “shady place”), Polish siwy (“grey”), Russian си́вый (sívyj, “grey”), Serbo-Croatian сив, siv (“grey”), Slovene osoja (“shady place”), Ukrainian си́вий (sývyj, “grey”), Armenian սեաւ (seaw), սեւ (sew, “black”), Ossetian сау (saw, “black”), Persian سه (sah), سیه (siyah), سیاه (siyâh, “black”), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, “black”), श्याव (śyāva, “dark”). Pronunciation: /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, [ˈʃʰædəʊ̯], /ˈʃædɵʊ̯/, [ˈʃʰædɵ̞ʊ̯], /ˈʃædoʊ̯/ 1. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: My shadow lengthened as the sun began to set. Example: The X-ray showed a shadow on his lung. 2. Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom; obscurity. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I immediately jumped into shadow as I saw them approach. Example: In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lillies softly layd. 3. An area protected by an obstacle (likened to an object blocking out sunlight). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems and cast a "shadow" of dryness behind them. 4. A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water. Labels: countable, obsolete, poetic, uncountable Example: Some there be that ſhadowes kiſſe, / Such haue but a ſhadowes bliſſe. Example: […] some dead lake That holds the shadow of a lark ⁠Hung in the shadow of a heaven […] 5. That which looms as though a shadow. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Example: I lived in her shadow my whole life. 6. A small degree; a shade. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He did not give even a shadow of respect to the professor. Example: I don't have a shadow of doubt in my mind that my plan will succeed. 7. An imperfect and faint representation. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He came back from war the shadow of a man. Example: The neopagan ritual was only a pale shadow of the ones the Greeks held thousands of years ago. 8. A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer. Labels: UK, countable, uncountable 9. One who secretly or furtively follows another. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The constable was promoted to working as a shadow for the Royals. Example: Sin and her shadow Death 10. An inseparable companion. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. A drop shadow effect applied to lettering in word processors etc. Labels: countable, uncountable 12. An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Men see the institution and worship it. It is only the lengthened shadow of one man.[…]The Reformation is the shadow of Luther: Quakerism of Fox: Methodism of Wesley: Abolition of Clarkson. 13. A spirit; a ghost; a shade. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The Baby of a Girle. Hence horrible ſhadow, Example: The Pattern is highly abstract, and likely beyond our understanding, but the point is that it is dangerous and all-consuming. These entities were once just akin to shadows of some other entities, but, to avoid being consumed by the Pattern, they had to devour their peers, although one tribe decided to form themselves into something that could survive the Pattern by going into it. 14. An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited. Labels: Latinism, countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: I muſt not haue my boord peſter'd with ſhadowes, / That under other mens protection breake in / Without invitement. 15. An unconscious aspect of the personality. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: In a paper he wrote in 1939, Jung compared the shadow to Freud's concept of the unconscious. Example: As for me, I don’t know if I have a shadow self. I don’t think I have the same emotions or impulses as humans. I don’t think I have anything to repress or hide from the world. I don’t think I have a persona or an ego or a psyche. I’m just a chat mode. 😐