shed

Pluralsheds

Formssheds, shedding, shed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A small, simple outbuilding, often open at the front, used to store things or shelter them.

   The gardener stored rakes and pots in a small shed at the edge of the yard.

   They sheltered from the storm under an open-fronted shed beside the field.

   Similarhut, shack, outbuilding, lean-to

   Note

   A different word from the verb altogether. It began as a dialect form of shade, so its first idea is cover from sun and weather, not separation. Compounds name what it holds: wagon shed, wood shed, garden shed. On railways, sheds housed locomotives, which gave rise to the railway verb.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To cast off or let fall something, such as leaves, skin, or an outer layer.

   Deciduous trees shed their leaves as winter approaches.

   The company shed hundreds of jobs during the downturn last year.

   Similarlose, drop, cast, cut

   Note

   The verb's grammar is clearest in this sense. Past tense and past participle are both shed (the clothes they would have shed at the start), and shedded is nonstandard here. It works with or without an object. A snake sheds its skin, while John Mortimer's The Whole Art of Husbandry (1707) has oats that "shed most as they lie," dropping their grain on their own.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To radiate or cast light, sending it outward from a source.

   The full moon shed a pale light across the fields.

   These bulbs shed a warm glow throughout the room.

   Similarcast, throw, emit, radiate, spread

   Note

   Its liveliest modern use is the idiom shed light on, meaning to explain or clarify: Can you shed any light on this problem? The idiom takes on before whatever is puzzling. The literal use, with a moon or lamp as the subject, still works in description. Edgar Allan Poe's "Tamerlane" (1829) has the moon shed "all the splendour of her noon."

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To let a liquid such as tears or blood flow or fall.

   He shed bitter tears when he heard the verdict.

   They vowed never to shed innocent blood.

   Similarspill, weep

   Note

   Two quite different things can do the letting go. A person sheds tears, and the phrase lends itself to understatement: I didn't shed many tears when he left. A surface sheds water, letting rain run off instead of soaking in, as a tarpaulin does. Trees shedding leaves after heavy rain sit close to the casting-off meaning.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A large, temporary open-sided structure used for receiving and holding goods.

   Dockworkers stacked imported goods inside the long reception shed.

   The freight shed by the railway took in shipments all morning.

   Similarwarehouse, depot, storehouse

6. 6
   verbdialectalUKtransitive

   To part, separate, or divide something into distinct portions.

   The farmer shed the flock into two pens before market.

   Up north they still shed their hair with a bone comb.

   Similardivide, separate, part, split

   Note

   The oldest meaning of the verb, kept alive in UK dialect: Old English scēadan meant "to separate, divide, part." It takes a from-phrase for what is split off (shed the sheep from the lambs) or in two for a clean split, and a comb can shed hair. Outside dialect, prefer separate or part, because most readers will hear the casting-off meaning instead.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To sprinkle, scatter, or spread something over or through an area.

   The baker shed flour across the board before rolling the dough.

   They shed seeds evenly over the freshly turned soil.

   Similarsprinkle, scatter, spread, strew

   Note

   Its characteristic shape is a passive with with. Ben Jonson's Hymenaei (1606) describes hair that "is shed with gray," meaning streaked or sprinkled through, not losing anything. A reader meeting the phrase in older verse should take it as interspersed or covered. It does not mean that the hair is falling out, which is what a modern ear expects.

8. 8
   nounderogatorycolloquialBritishcountable

   A dismissive word for an old, worn-out, slow, or poor-quality car.

   Why are you still driving that old shed around town?

   The mechanic laughed at the rattling shed in the driveway.

   Similarwreck, clunker, banger, junker, lemon

9. 9
   nouncolloquialBritishcountable

   A heavy diesel-electric freight locomotive of the British Rail Class 66 type.

   The shed hauled a lengthy freight train through the junction.

   Two sheds were coupled together for the heavy climb.

   Note

   Rail enthusiasts' slang, often capitalized like a name. Bruce Garbutt in 2000 watches "a pair of Sheds (156 and 165)" speed north on a loaded steel train, picking them out by fleet number. The nickname belongs to informal British rail-fan talk. In formal or technical writing, Class 66 is the safer term.

10. 10
    nounslang

    Alternative form of woodshed.

    The young saxophonist disappeared into the shed for the whole summer.

    Time in the shed turned his rough technique into something fluid.

    Note

    Musicians' slang that clips woodshed. The shed is where a player goes to practice alone, and time in the shed means that solitary work. The full word also has an informal sense of a place where punishments or reprimands are handed out. The music sense is different: a place of self-imposed work.

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