| 1. | a dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by a body intercepting light. |
| 2. | shade or comparative darkness, as in an area. |
| 3. | shadows, darkness, esp. that coming after sunset. |
| 4. | shelter; protection: sanctuary in the shadow of the church. |
| 5. | a slight suggestion; trace: beyond the shadow of a doubt. |
| 6. | a specter or ghost: pursued by shadows. |
| 7. | a hint or faint, indistinct image or idea; intimation: shadows of things to come. |
| 8. | a mere semblance: the shadow of power. |
| 9. | a reflected image. |
| 10. | (in painting, drawing, graphics, etc.)
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| 11. | (in architectural shades and shadows) a dark figure or image cast by an object or part of an object upon a surface that would otherwise be illuminated by the theoretical light source. Compare shade (def. 16). |
| 12. | a period or instance of gloom, unhappiness, mistrust, doubt, dissension, or the like, as in friendship or one's life: Their relationship was not without shadows. |
| 13. | a dominant or pervasive threat, influence, or atmosphere, esp. one causing gloom, fear, doubt, or the like: They lived under the shadow of war. |
| 14. | an inseparable companion: The dog was his shadow. |
| 15. | a person who follows another in order to keep watch upon that person, as a spy or detective. |
| 16. | to overspread with shadow; shade. |
| 17. | to cast a gloom over; cloud: The incident shadowed their meeting. |
| 18. | to screen or protect from light, heat, etc.; shade. |
| 19. | to follow (a person) about secretly, in order to keep watch over his movements. |
| 20. | to represent faintly, prophetically, etc. (often fol. by forth). |
| 21. | Archaic. to shelter or protect. |
| 22. | Archaic. to shade in painting, drawing, etc. |
| 23. | of or pertaining to a shadow cabinet. |
| 24. | without official authority: a shadow government. |

shad·ow (shād'ō) n.
v. tr.
[Middle English, from Old English sceaduwe, oblique case of sceadu, shade, shadow.] shad'ow·er n. Word History: Shade and shadow are not only related in meaning; historically they are the same word. In Old English, the ancestor of Modern English spoken a thousand years ago, nouns were inflected; that is, they had different forms depending on how they were used in a sentence. One of the inflected forms of the Old English noun sceadu, translatable as either "shade" or "shadow," was sceaduwe; this form was used when the word was preceded by a preposition (as in in sceaduwe, "in the shade, in shadow"). As time went on these two forms of the same word were interpreted as two separate words. The same thing happened to other Old English words, too: our mead and meadow come from two different case-forms of the same Old English word for "meadow." |