shadow
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
government
law-enforcement
mathematics
media
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
programming
publishing
sciences
typography
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: shadows
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more shadow
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most shadow
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: shadows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: shadowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: shadowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: shadowed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: My shadow lengthened as the sun began to set.
The X-ray showed a shadow on his lung.
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
gloss: Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom; obscurity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I immediately jumped into shadow as I saw them approach.
In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lillies softly layd.
Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise.
gloss: An area protected by an obstacle (likened to an object blocking out sunlight).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems and cast a "shadow" of dryness behind them.
gloss: A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
poetic
uncountable
examples: Some there be that ſhadowes kiſſe, / Such haue but a ſhadowes bliſſe.
[…] some dead lake
That holds the shadow of a lark
⁠Hung in the shadow of a heaven […]
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff—and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky.
gloss: That which looms as though a shadow.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: 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.
I lived in her shadow my whole life.
Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
Don't look back. Nothing left to see, just leave those shadows to the past.
gloss: A small degree; a shade.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He did not give even a shadow of respect to the professor.
I don't have a shadow of doubt in my mind that my plan will succeed.
no variableness, neither shadow of turning
Only Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion have enjoyed less possession than Leicester’s 44.2% per game, and they have the worst pass-completion rate in the league, a shadow over 71%.
gloss: An imperfect and faint representation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He came back from war the shadow of a man.
The neopagan ritual was only a pale shadow of the ones the Greeks held thousands of years ago.
the law having a shadow of good things to come
[types] and shadowes of that destined seed
gloss: A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer.
pos: noun
tags: UK
countable
uncountable
gloss: One who secretly or furtively follows another.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The constable was promoted to working as a shadow for the Royals.
Sin and her shadow Death
It was easy enough to follow the suspect, a man of thirty, more or less, rather heavy build with a peculiar motion of the hips as he strode along. Breaker and shadow, at a distance of fifty feet apart, walked for five blocks and then the man turned quickly to the right and ran down a pair of steps.
gloss: An inseparable companion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A drop shadow effect applied to lettering in word processors etc.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A spirit; a ghost; a shade.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The Baby of a Girle. Hence horrible ſhadow,
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.
gloss: An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited.
pos: noun
tags: Latinism
countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: I muſt not haue my boord peſter'd with ſhadowes, / That under other mens protection breake in / Without invitement.
gloss: An unconscious aspect of the personality.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: In a paper he wrote in 1939, Jung compared the shadow to Freud's concept of the unconscious.
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. 😐
gloss: Unofficial, informal, unauthorized, but acting as though it were.
pos: adj
examples: The human resources department has a shadow information technology group without headquarters knowledge.
gloss: Having power or influence, but not widely known or recognized.
pos: adj
examples: The director has been giving shadow leadership to the other group's project to ensure its success.
The illuminati shadow group has been pulling strings from behind the scenes.
gloss: Part of, or related to, the opposition in government.
pos: adj
tags: Commonwealth
gloss: Acting in a leadership role before being formally recognized.
pos: adj
tags: US
examples: The shadow cabinet cannot agree on the terms of the agreement due immediately after they are sworn in.
The insurgents’ shadow government is being crippled by the federal military strikes.
gloss: To shade, cloud, or darken.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The artist chose to shadow this corner of the painting.
gloss: To block light or radio transmission from.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Looks like that cloud's going to shadow us.
gloss: To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
pos: verb
examples: Soon after departure, we cross the invisible border into Scotland to enjoy more stunning coastal scenery, before the line finally swings inland at Burnmouth to traverse pine-clad valleys, shadowed by the A1 trunk road until we rejoin the coast at Cove, east of Dunbar.
gloss: To represent faintly and imperfectly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Ah, ye admonitions and warnings! why stay ye not when ye come? But rather are ye predictions than warnings, ye shadows!
gloss: To hide; to conceal.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To accompany (a professional) during the working day, so as to learn about an occupation one intends to take up.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: In most cases, interns have mainly observed, or “shadowed,” their Hands-On hosts, but some interns have been given real tasks to perform, […]
I know you haven’t run a training before, but Irving will be there to shadow. Just stick to the flowchart and escalate properly depending on dialectics. You’ll be fine.
gloss: To make (an identifier, usually a variable) inaccessible by declaring another of the same name within the scope of the first.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: In this snippet, inside the for loop the a and b variables shadow variables from the outer scope, and while legal, this is almost certainly a programming error.
gloss: To apply the shadowing process to (the contents of ROM).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Related words: scoto-
Derived words: acoustic shadow
afraid of one's own shadow
antishadow
backshadow
backshadowing
beshade
beyond a shadow of a doubt
beyond a shadow of doubt
beyond the shadow of a doubt
cast a shadow
chromoshadow
digital shadow
enshadow
eyeshadow
eye shadow
five o'clock shadow
foreshadow
foreshadowing
in the shadow of
job-shadow
jump at one's own shadow
live in the shadow of
nonshadow
outshadow
preshadow
rainshadow
rain shadow
saffron shadow dancer
shadowable
shadow account
shadow accounting
shadow acne
shadowban
shadow ban
shadow-ban
shadow band
shadow bank
shadow banker
shadow banking
shadow banking system
shadow beni
shadow blister effect
shadowbox
shadow-box
shadow box
shadowboxer
shadow boxing
shadowboxing
shadow buffer
shadow cabinet
shadowcast
shadowcasting
shadow daddy
shadow darner
shadow dial
shadow docket
shadow DOM
shadowdragon
shadow drop
shadower
shadow factory
shadowfilled
shadow fleet
shadow gazer
shadow government
shadowgram
shadowgraph
shadow grass
shadow history
shadowish
shadow IT
shadowland
shadowless
shadow library
shadowlike
shadow map
shadow mapping
shadow mask
shadow matter
shadow memory
shadow minister
shadow of one's former self
shadow play
shadow price
shadow pronoun
shadow puppet
shadow puppetry
shadow realm
shadow real wage
shadow ship
shadow snake
shadow social
shadow-stalker
shadow stitch
shadow stock
shadow-throwing
shadow trade
shadow trading
shadow-vinnie bush
shadow volume
shadow war
shadow witch
shadow work
shadowy
shadow zone
sideshadow
sideshadowing
sound shadow
supershadow
take the shadow for the substance
valley of the shadow of death
wind shadow
without a shadow of a doubt
beshadow
overshadow
unshadow
Translations: