Old English sceadwe, sceaduwe "the effect of interception of sunlight, dark image cast by someone or something when interposed between an object and a source of light," oblique cases ("to the," "from the," "of the," "in the") of sceadu (see shade (n.)). Shadow is to shade (n.) as meadow is to mead (n.2). Similar formation in Old Saxon skado, Middle Dutch schaeduwe, Dutch schaduw, Old High German scato, German schatten, Gothic skadus "shadow, shade."
From mid-13c. as "darkened area created by shadows, shade." From early 13c. in sense "anything unreal;" mid-14c. as "a ghost;" late 14c. as "a foreshadowing, prefiguration." Meaning "imitation, copy" is from 1690s. Sense of "the faintest trace" is from 1580s; that of "a spy who follows" is from 1859.
As a designation of members of an opposition party chosen as counterparts of the government in power, it is recorded from 1906. Shadow of Death (c. 1200) translates Vulgate umbra mortis (Ps. xxiii:4, etc.), which itself translates Greek skia thanatou, perhaps a mistranslation of a Hebrew word for "intense darkness." In "Beowulf," Gendel is a sceadugenga, a shadow-goer, and another word for "darkness" is sceaduhelm. To be afraid of one's (own) shadow "be very timorous" is from 1580s.
shadow (v.)
Middle English schadowen, Kentish ssedwi, from late Old English sceadwian "to protect as with covering wings" (also see overshadow), from the root of shadow (n.). Similar formation in Old Saxon skadoian, Dutch schaduwen, Old High German scatewen, German (über)schatten. From mid-14c. as "provide shade;" late 14c. as "cast a shadow over" (literal and figurative), from early 15c. as "darken" (in illustration, etc.). Meaning "to follow like a shadow" is from c. 1600 in an isolated instance; not attested again until 1872. Related: Shadowed; shadowing.
雙語例句
1. It was without a shadow of a doubt the best we've played.
毫無疑問這是我們表現最出彩的一次。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The light from my candle threw his elongated shadow on the walls.
我的燭光將他拉長的影子投射在墻上。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Nothing would grow in the shadow of the grey wall.
灰墻的背陰處什么東西也長不出來。
來自柯林斯例句
4. He has always lived in the shadow of his brother.
他一直活在他哥哥的影子中。
來自柯林斯例句
5. They flew in over the beach, casting a huge shadow.