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Shadows on the beach


From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sceaduwe, sceadwe, oblique form of sceadu (shadow, shade; darkness; protection), from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (shade, shadow), from Proto-Indo-European *skot- (darkness). Cognate with Scots scaddow, schaddow (shadow), Saterland Frisian Skaad (shade, shadow), Dutch schaduw (shadow), German Schatten (shadow, shade), Norwegian skodde (fog, mist), Irish scáth (shadow), Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, darkness, gloom).



The shadow of the photographer, taken in Singapore

shadow (plural shadows)

  1. A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, The Celebrity:
    My shadow lengthened as the sun began to set.
    The X-ray showed a shadow on his lung.
    I immediately jumped into shadow as I saw them approach.
    • Denham
      Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise.
    • Spenser
      In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lilies softly laid.
  3. (obsolete) A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water.
  4. That which looms as though a shadow.
      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.
    I don't have a shadow of doubt in my mind that my plan will succeed.   The shadow of fear of my being outed always affects how I live my life.   I lived in her shadow my whole life.
  5. A small degree; a shade.
    He did not give even a shadow of respect to the professor.
    • Bible, James i. 17
      no variableness, neither shadow of turning
  6. An imperfect and faint representation.
    He came back from war the shadow of a man.
    • Bible, Hebrews x. 1
      the law having a shadow of good things to come
    • Milton
      [types] and shadows of that destined seed
  7. One who secretly or furtively follows another.
    The constable was promoted to working as a shadow for the Royals.
    • Milton
      Sin and her shadow Death
  8. A type of lettering form of word processors that makes a cubic effect.
  9. An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one.
    • 1844 March 27, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Present Age: Politics”, in Robert E. Spiller, Wallace E. Williams editor, The early lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, volume 3, published 1972:
      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.
  10. A spirit; a ghost; a shade.
    • Shakespeare Macbeth act 3 scene 4
      The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
  11. (obsolete, Latinism) An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

Usage notes[edit]

  • A person (or object) is said to "cast", "have", or "throw" a shadow if that shadow is caused by the person (either literally, by eclipsing a light source, or figuratively). The shadow may then be described as the shadow "cast" or "thrown" by the person, or as the shadow "of" the person, or simply as the person's shadow.

Derived terms[edit]




shadow (third-person singular simple present shadows, present participle shadowing, simple past and past participle shadowed)

  1. To block light or radio transmission.
    Looks like that cloud's going to shadow us.
  2. (espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
  3. To accompany a professional during the working day, so as to learn about an occupation one intends to take up.
  4. (programming) To make an identifier, usually a variable, inaccessible by declaring another of the same name within the scope of the first.
  5. (computing) To apply the shadowing process to (the contents of ROM).

Derived terms[edit]