Edit page | Page history | Printable version

shed

1. To fall in drops; to pour. Such a rain down from the welkin shadde. (Chaucer)

2. To let fall the parts, as seeds or fruit; to throw off a covering or envelope. White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand. (Mortimer)

1. To separate; to divide.

2. To part with; to throw off or give forth from one's self; to emit; to diffuse; to cause to emanate or flow; to pour forth or out; to spill; as, the sun sheds light; she shed tears; the clouds shed rain. Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (Shak) Twice seven consenting years have shed Their utmost bounty on thy head. (Wordsworth)

3. To let fall; to throw off, as a natural covering of hair, feathers, shell; to cast; as, fowls shed their feathers; serpents shed their skins; trees shed leaves.

4. To cause to flow off without penetrating; as, a tight roof, or covering of oiled cloth, sheeds water.

5. To sprinkle; to intersperse; to cover. Her hair . . . Is shed with gray.

6. To divide, as the warp threads, so as to form a shed, or passageway, for the shuttle.

Origin: OE. Scheden, schden, to pour, to part, AS. Scadan, sceadan, to pert, to separate; akin to OS. Skan, OFries. Sktha, G. Scheiden, OHG. Sceidan, Goth. Skaidan, and p cd5 robably to Lith. Skedu I part, separate, L. Scindere to cleave, to split, Gr, Skr. Chid, and perch. Also to L. Caedere to cut. Cf. Chisel, Concise, Schism, Sheading, Sheath, Shide.

1. A parting; a separation; a division. They say also that the manner of making the shed of newwedded wives' hair with the iron head of a javelin came up then likewise. (Sir T. North)

2. The act of shedding or spilling; used only in composition, as in bloodshed.

3. That which parts, divides, or sheds; used in composition, as in watershed.

4. The passageway between the threads of the warp through which the shuttle is thrown, having a sloping top and bottom made by raising and lowering the alternate threads.

A slight or temporary structure built to shade or shelter something; a structure usually open in front; an outbuilding; a hut; as, a wagon shed; a wood shed. The first Aletes born in lowly shed. (Fairfax) Sheds of reeds which summer's heat repel. (Sandys)

Origin: The same word as shade. See Shade.