# shelter

Pronunciation: US say "SHEL-tur" /ˈʃɛltɚ/; UK say "SHEL-tuh" /ˈʃɛltə/

## Noun

1. A place where a person or animal can find protection from the weather, especially rain, storms, or cold, sometimes used as somewhere to sleep.
   - Simple: A safe place that protects a person or animal from rain, storms, or cold.
   - _The climbers built a rough shelter to wait out the blizzard._
   - _A shallow cave offered the only shelter for miles around._
2. Anything that serves to provide protection or cover, keeping whatever is behind it safe from harm or danger.
   - Simple: Anything that gives a person or animal protection or cover from harm.
   - _The dense hedge provided welcome shelter from the driving rain._
   - _Soldiers used the ruined wall as shelter against enemy fire._
4. The condition of being protected or shielded from danger, harm, or the weather.
   - Simple: The state of being kept safe from harm or bad weather.
   - _They remained in shelter throughout the long bombardment._
   - _After hours in the open, the warmth of shelter was a relief._
5. A refuge or institution that provides temporary housing and a place to sleep for people in need or in danger.
   - Simple: A safe place where people in need can stay and sleep for a while.
   - _The city opened an emergency shelter for families displaced by the flood._
   - _After losing her home, she spent two weeks in a shelter downtown._
6. A small, simple above-ground structure built to give temporary cover from the weather, usually with no door to close.
   - Simple: A small, simple structure built to give cover from the weather for a short time.
   - _Hikers can rest at the open shelter halfway up the trail._
   - _A simple lean-to shelter kept the worst of the rain off them._
7. A structure, usually partly or fully underground, that protects people from deadly conditions outside, including military attack.
   - Simple: A strong place, often underground, that keeps people safe from attack or danger outside.
   - _The villagers took refuge in a concrete shelter built to withstand artillery fire._
   - _Cold War families dug a shelter beneath the backyard in case of nuclear attack._
9. An establishment that takes in stray, lost, or unwanted animals and houses them until they can be adopted.
   - Simple: A safe place that takes in lost or stray animals and cares for them.
   - _The shelter takes in dozens of stray cats each month._
   - _She volunteers at a shelter that rescues abandoned dogs._

## Verb

3. To provide cover for someone or something, shielding them from damage or harassment.
   - Simple: To keep a person or thing safe from harm or attack.
   - _Thick trees shelter the house from the worst of the storms._
   - _The cliff sheltered the harbor from the pounding waves._
8. To take cover, moving to a safe place away from danger or the weather.
   - Simple: To go somewhere safe to get away from danger or bad weather.
   - _People shelter wherever they can when the sirens sound._
   - _When the hail started, the hikers sheltered behind a large boulder._

## Origin

From Middle English sheltron or sheldtrume, meaning a roof or wall made from locked shields, from Old English scildtruma ('a phalanx or shield-covering'), literally 'shield-troop', combining scyld ('shield') and truma ('a troop of soldiers'). It is a doublet of sheltron, a kind of military formation.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shelter (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).