Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHAD-ING, ppr.

Sheltering from the sun's rays.

SHAD'OW, n. [Sax. scadu, sceadu. See Shade.]

1. Shade within defined limits; obscurity or deprivation of light, apparent on a plane and representing the form of the body which intercepts the rays of light; as, the shadow of a man, of a tree or a tower. The shadow of the earth in an eclipse of the moon is proof of its sphericity.
2. Darkness; shade; obscurity. Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise. – Denham.
3. Shelter made by any thing that intercepts the light, heat or influence of the air. In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lilies softly laid. – Spenser.
4. Obscure place; secluded retreat. To secret shadow I retire. [Obs.] – Dryden.
5. Dark part of a picture. [Obs.] – Peacham. [The two last senses, shade is now used.]
6. A spirit; a ghost. [Obs.] [In this sense, shade is now used.]
7. In painting, the representation of a real shadow.
8. An imperfect and faint representation; opposed to substance. The law having a shadow of good things to come. – Heb. x.
9. Inseparable companion. Sin and her shadow, death. – Milton.
10. Type; mystical representation. Types and shadows of that destin'd seed. – Milton.
11. Protection; shelter; favor. – Lam. iv. Ps. xci.
12. Slight or faint appearance. – James i. Shadow of death, terrible darkness, trouble or death. – Job iii.

SHAD'OW, v.t.

1. To overspread with obscurity. The warlike elf much wonder'd at this tree / So fair and great, that shadow'd all the ground. – Spenser. [Shade is more generally used.]
2. To cloud; to darken. The shadow livery of the burning sun. – Shak.
3. To make cool; to refresh by shade; or to shade. Flowery fields and shadow'd waters. – Sidney.
4. To conceal; to hide; to screen. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, / And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow / The number our host. [Unusual.] – Shak.
5. To protect; to screen from danger; to shroud. Shadowing their right under your wings of war. – Shak.
6. To mark with slight gradations of color or light. – Locke. [In this sense, shade is chiefly used.]
7. To paint in obscure colors; as, void spaces deeply shadowed. – Dryden.
8. To represent faintly or imperfectly. Augustus is shadowed in the person of Æneas. – Dryden.
9. To represent typically. The healing power of the brazen serpent shadoweth the efficacy of Christ's righteousness. [The two last senses are in use. In place of the others, shade is now more generally used.]

SHAD'OW-CAST-ING, a.

Casting a shadow.

SHAD'OW-ED, pp.

Represented imperfectly or typically.

SHAD'OW-GRASS, n.

A kind of grass so called. – Johnson.

SHAD'OW-ING, n.

Shade or gradation of light and color. [This should be shading.]

SHAD'OW-ING, ppr.

Representing by faint or imperfect resemblance.

SHAD'OW-LESS, a.

Having no shadow.

SHAD'OW-Y, a. [Sax. sceadwig.]

1. Full of shade; dark; gloomy. This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods. – Shak.
2. Not brightly luminous; faintly light. More pleasant light, / Shadowy sets off the face of things. – Milton.
3. Faintly representative; typical; as, shadowy expiations. – Milton.
4. Unsubstantial; unreal. Milton has brought into his poems two actors of a shadowy and fictitious nature, in the persons of Sin and Death. – Addison.
5. Dark; obscure; opake. By command ere yet dim night / Her shadowy cloud withdraws. – Milton.

SHAD'OW-Y-NESS, n.

State of being shadowy or unsubstantial.

SHA'DRACH, n.

In the melting of iron, a mass of iron in which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect. [Local.]

SHA'DY, a. [from shade.]

1. Abounding with shade or shades; overspread with shade. And Amaryllis fills the shady groves. – Dryden.
2. Sheltered from the glare of light or sultry heat. Cast it also that you may have rooms shady for summer and warm for winter. – Bacon.

SHAF'FLE, v.i. [See Shuffle.]

To hobble or limp. [Not in use.]

SHAF'FLER, n.

A hobbler; one that limps. [Not in use.]

SHAFT, n. [Sax. sceaft; D. and G. schaft; Sw. and Dan. skaft; L. scapus; from the root of shape, from setting, or shooting, extending.]

1. An arrow; a missile weapon; as, the archer and the shaft. – More. So lofty was the pile, a Parthian bow / With vigor drawn must send the shaft below. – Dryden.
2. In mining, a pit or long narrow opening or entrance into a mine. [This may possibly be a different word, as in German it is written schacht, Dan. skægte.]
3. In architecture, the shaft of a column is the body of it, between the base and the capital.
4. Any thing straight; as, the shaft of a steeple and many other things. – Peacham.
5. The stem or stock of a feather or quill.
6. The pole of a carriage, sometimes called tongue or neap. The thills of a chaise or gig are also called shafts.
7. The handle of a weapon. Shaft, or white-shaft, a species of Trochilus or hummingbird, having a bill twenty lines in length, and two long white feathers in the middle of its tail. – Encyc.

SHAFT-ED, a.

Having a handle; a term in heraldry, applied to a spear-head.

SHAFT-MENT, n. [Sax. scæftmund.]

A span, a measure of about six inches. [Not in use.] – Ray.

SHAG, a.

Hairy; shaggy. – Shak.

SHAG, n. [Sax. sceacga, hair, shag; Dan. skiæg; Sw. skägg, the beard, a brush, &c. In Eth. ሠቅ shaky, a hair cloth.]

1. Coarse hair or nap, or rough woolly hair. True Witney broadcloth, with its shag unshorn. – Gay.
2. A kind of cloth having a long coarse nap.
3. In ornithology, an aquatic fowl, the Pelecanus graculus; in the north of England called the crave. – Encyc. Ed. Encyc.

SHAG, v.t.

1. To make rough or hairy. Shag the green zone that bounds the boreal skies. – J. Barlow.
2. To make rough or shaggy; to deform. – Thomson.

SHAG'GED, or SHAG'GY, a.

1. Rough with long hair or wool. About his shoulders hangs the shaggy skin. – Dryden.
2. Rough; rugged; as, the shaggy tops of hills. – Milton. And throw the shaggy spoils about your shoulders. – Addison.

SHAG'GED-NESS, or SHAG'GI-NESS, n.

The state of being shaggy; roughness with long loose hair or wool.

SHA-GREEN, or SHA-GREEN-ED, a.

Made of the leather called shagreen.

SHA-GREEN, n.¹ [Pers. سغري sagri, the skin of a horse or an ass, &c. dressed.]

A kind of grained leather prepared of the skin of a fish, a species of Squalus. To prepare it, the skin is stretched and covered with mustard-seed, which is bruised upon it. The skin is then exposed to the weather for some days, and afterward tanned. – Encyc.