shed

English Online Dictionary. What means shed‎? What does shed mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: shěd, IPA^(key): /ʃɛd/
• Rhymes: -ɛd

Etymology 1

From Middle English scheden, schede, from Old English scēadan, scādan (“to separate, divide, part, make a line of separation between; remove from association or companionship; distinguish, discriminate, decide, determine, appoint; shatter, shed; expound; decree; write down; differ”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþan, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną (compare West Frisian skiede, Dutch and German scheiden), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyt- (“to cut, part, divide, separate”), from *skey-.

See also Welsh chwydu (“to break open”), Lithuanian skėsti (“to spread”), skíesti (“to separate”), Old Church Slavonic цѣдити (cěditi, “to filter, strain”), Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”), Old Armenian ցտեմ (cʻtem, “to scratch”), Sanskrit च्यति (cyáti, “he cuts off”)). Related to shoad, shit, sheath.

Verb

shed (third-person singular simple present sheds, present participle shedding, simple past and past participle shed or (nonstandard) shedded)

1. (transitive, obsolete, UK, dialectal) To part, separate or divide.
   • c. 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece

     If there be any thing that knitteth himself to the ilk middle point [of a circle], it is constrained into simplicity (that is to say, into unmovablity), and it ceaseth to be shed and to flit diversely.

   • 1460–1500, The Poems of Robert Henryson

     The northern wind had shed the misty clouds from the sky;

   • 1635, "Sermon on Philippians III, 7, 8", in Select Practical Writings of David Dickson (1845), Volume 1, page 166 Internet Archive

     Lest […] ye shed with God.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To part with, separate from, leave off; cast off, let fall, be divested of.
3. (transitive, archaic) To pour; to make flow.
4. (transitive) To allow to flow or fall.
5. (transitive) To radiate, cast, give off (light).

   to shed light on
6. (obsolete, transitive) To pour forth, give off, impart.
7. (obsolete, intransitive) To fall in drops; to pour.
8. To sprinkle; to intersperse; to cover.
9. (weaving) To divide, as the warp threads, so as to form a shed, or passageway, for the shuttle.
10. (music, slang) Alternative form of woodshed

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sched, schede, schad, from a combination of Old English scēada (“a parting of the hair, top of the head”) and Old English ġesċēad (“distinction, reason”).

Alternative forms

• shode (dialectal)
• shead, shede (obsolete)

Noun

shed (plural sheds)

2. (weaving) An area between upper and lower warp yarns through which the weft is woven.
3. (obsolete) A distinction or dividing-line.
4. (obsolete) A parting in the hair.
5. (obsolete) The top of the head.
6. (obsolete) An area of land as distinguished from those around it.
7. (physics) A unit of area equivalent to 10⁻⁵² square meters; used in nuclear physics

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Dialectal variant of a specialized use of shade.

Noun

shed (plural sheds)

1. A slight or temporary structure built to shade or shelter something; a structure usually open in front; an outbuilding; a hut.
2. A large temporary open structure for reception of goods.
3. (British, derogatory, informal) An automobile which is old, worn-out, slow, or otherwise of poor quality.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:old car

4. (British, rail transport, informal) A British Rail Class 66 locomotive.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Scottish Gaelic: seada
• → Welsh: sièd

Translations

See also

Verb

shed (third-person singular simple present sheds, present participle shedding, simple past and past participle shedded)

1. (transitive) To place or allocate a vehicle, such as a locomotive, in or to a depot or shed.
2. (transitive, music) To woodshed.

References

• “shed”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• edhs, heds

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• shedu

Etymology

From Latin sedeō. Compare Romanian ședea, șed.

Verb

shed first-singular present indicative (third-person singular present indicative shadi or shade, past participle shidzutã)

1. to sit

Related terms

See also

• mi-ashedzu