shade

1 noun

1 SLIGHT DARKNESS (U) slight darkness or shelter from the direct light of the sun made by something blocking it: a plant that likes a lot of shade | in the shade: Let's find a table in the shade. | It's 35ºC in the shade. | in the shade of a tree/wall etc: sitting in the shade of a large oak tree

—compare shadow 1 (1)

2 FOR BLOCKING LIGHT (C)

a) something you use to reduce or block light: lampshade/eyeshade (=over a lamp, or above your eyes)

b) AmE a blind 3 (1)

3 shades (plural) informal sunglasses

4 IN A PICTURE (U) the dark places in a picture: light and shade: using light and shade to mould figures

5 COLOUR (C) a particular kind of red, green, blue etc

(+ of): a wonderful shade of pink

6 shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc a meaning etc that is slightly different from other ones; nuance: various shades of opinion in the party

7 a shade formal very slightly: Ken was just a shade too honest about his feelings.

8 shades of used to say that something reminds you of someone or something else, especially when you would rather forget: Huh. Shades of my poorer days.

9 put sth in the shade to be so good or impressive that other similar things or people seem much less important or interesting: Well Arthur, your choir puts our little town chorus in the shade.

10 literary the spirit of a dead person; ghost 1 (1)

11 have it made in the shade AmE informal to be extremely rich

2 verb (T)

1 to protect something from direct light: See, the yucca plant's being shaded by that tree. | shade your eyes/face etc: Shading her eyes, Anita scanned the horizon.

2 also shade in to make part of a picture or drawing darker: You still need to shade in that bit there.

shade into sth phrasal verb (T) if one thing shades into another, it is impossible to tell where one stops and another starts: Sea shades into sky at the horizon. | Right and wrong often shade into each other.