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shroud (shroud)
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n.
1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet.
2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog.
3.
a. Nautical One of a set of ropes or wire cables stretched from the masthead to the sides of a vessel to support the mast.
b. A similar supporting line for a smokestack or comparable structure.
c. One of the ropes connecting the harness and canopy of a parachute.
v. shroud·ed, shroud·ing, shrouds
v.tr.
1. To wrap (a corpse) in burial clothing.
2.
a. To envelop and obscure or shut off from sight: Fog shrouded the city. See Synonyms at block.
b. To envelop or be associated with and make difficult to understand: "Diabetes continued as a kind of underground disease, shrouded in myth and bereft of advocates" (James S. Hirsch).
3. Archaic To shelter; protect.
v.intr.
Archaic
To take cover; find shelter.

[Middle English schrud, garment, from Old English scrūd.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.