shadow
pronunciation
How to pronounce shadow in British English:
UK [ˈʃædəʊ]
How to pronounce shadow in American English:
US [ˈʃædoʊ]
-
- Noun:
- shade within clear boundaries
- an unilluminated area
- something existing in perception only
- a premonition of something adverse
- an indication that something has been present
- refuge from danger or observation
- a dominating and pervasive presence
- a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements
- an inseparable companion
-
- Verb:
- follow, usually without the person's knowledge
- cast a shadow over
- make appear small by comparison
Word Origin
- shadow (n.)
- Old English sceadwe, sceaduwe "the effect of interception of sunlight, dark image cast by someone or something when interposed between an object and a source of light," oblique cases ("to the," "from the," "of the," "in the") of sceadu (see shade (n.)). Shadow is to shade (n.) as meadow is to mead (n.2). Similar formation in Old Saxon skado, Middle Dutch schaeduwe, Dutch schaduw, Old High German scato, German schatten, Gothic skadus "shadow, shade." From mid-13c. as "darkened area created by shadows, shade." From early 13c. in sense "anything unreal;" mid-14c. as "a ghost;" late 14c. as "a foreshadowing, prefiguration." Meaning "imitation, copy" is from 1690s. Sense of "the faintest trace" is from 1580s; that of "a spy who follows" is from 1859. As a designation of members of an opposition party chosen as counterparts of the government in power, it is recorded from 1906. Shadow of Death (c. 1200) translates Vulgate umbra mortis (Ps. xxiii:4, etc.), which itself translates Greek skia thanatou, perhaps a mistranslation of a Hebrew word for "intense darkness." In "Beowulf," Gendel is a sceadugenga, a shadow-goer, and another word for "darkness" is sceaduhelm. To be afraid of one's (own) shadow "be very timorous" is from 1580s.
- shadow (v.)
- Middle English schadowen, Kentish ssedwi, from late Old English sceadwian "to protect as with covering wings" (also see overshadow), from the root of shadow (n.). Similar formation in Old Saxon skadoian, Dutch schaduwen, Old High German scatewen, German (über)schatten. From mid-14c. as "provide shade;" late 14c. as "cast a shadow over" (literal and figurative), from early 15c. as "darken" (in illustration, etc.). Meaning "to follow like a shadow" is from c. 1600 in an isolated instance; not attested again until 1872. Related: Shadowed; shadowing.
Antonym
Example
- 1. The housing bust still casts a shadow .
- 2. What are big companies doing with shadow bank money ?
- 3. But the shadow on the x-ray couldn 't be denied .
- 4. Sun city shadow hills , launched in 2004 , is among the newest .
- 5. The face he saw reflected there was cast in shadow by the overhead fluorescent lights .