shed
pronunciation
How to pronounce shed in British English:
UK [ʃed]
How to pronounce shed in American English:
US [ʃed]
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- Noun:
- an outbuilding with a single story; used for shelter or storage
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- Verb:
- get rid of
- pour out in drops or small quantities or as if in drops or small quantities
- cause or allow (a solid substance) to flow or run out or over
- cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers
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- Adjective:
- shed at an early stage of development
Word Origin
- shed
- shed: English has two distinct words shed. The verb [OE] originally meant ‘divide, separate, split’ (a 14th-century religious poem paraphrased Genesis with ‘the sun to shed the day from the night’), and the modern range of senses, ‘give off, drop’, did not begin to emerge until the Middle English period. It goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *skaithan, which also produced German and Dutch scheiden ‘separate’.This was derived from a base *skaith- ‘divide, split’, source also of English ski and probably sheath. Shed ‘hut’ [15] may be an alteration of shade (but the shed of watershed is of course a noun use of the verb shed).=> sheath, ski; shade
- shed (n.)
- "building for storage," 1855, earlier "light, temporary shelter" (late 15c., shadde), possibly a dialectal variant of a specialized use of shade (n.). Originally of the barest sort of shelter. Or from or influenced in sense development by Middle English schudde (shud) "a shed, hut."
- shed (v.)
- "cast off," Old English sceadan, scadan "to divide, separate, part company; discriminate, decide; scatter abroad, cast about," strong verb (past tense scead, past participle sceadan), from Proto-Germanic *skaithan (cognates: Old Saxon skethan, Old Frisian sketha, Middle Dutch sceiden, Dutch scheiden, Old High German sceidan, German scheiden "part, separate, distinguish," Gothic skaidan "separate"), from *skaith "divide, split." According to Klein's sources, this probably is related to PIE root *skei- "to cut, separate, divide, part, split" (cognates: Sanskrit chid-, Greek skhizein, Latin scindere "to split;" Lithuanian skedzu "I make thin, separate, divide;" Old Irish scian "knife;" Welsh chwydu "to break open"). Related: Shedding. A shedding-tooth (1799) was a milk-tooth or baby-tooth. In reference to animals, "to lose hair, feathers, etc." recorded from c. 1500; of trees losing leaves from 1590s; of clothes, 1858. This verb was used in Old English to gloss Late Latin words in the sense "to discriminate, to decide" that literally mean "to divide, separate" (compare discern). Hence also scead (n.) "separation, distinction; discretion, understanding, reason;" sceadwisnes "discrimination, discretion."
Example
- 1. It wants to shed its reputation for bungling and heavy-handedness .
- 2. Attempts to shed kosice 's provincial image have not come easily .
- 3. Some say britain would grow faster if it could shed more eu rules .
- 4. As the influence of islamist radicals wanes , more girls have shed their veils .
- 5. Koreans have become more accepting of diversity and outside influences and quicker to shed old prejudices .