shroudSHROUD, n. 1. A shelter; a cover; that which covers, conceals or protects. Swaddled, as new born, in sable shrouds. Sandys. 2. The dress of the dead; a winding sheet. 3. Shroud or shrouds of a ship, a range of large ropes extending from the head of a mast to the right and left sides of the ship, to support the mast; as the main shrouds; fore shrouds; mizen shrouds. There are also futtock shrouds, bowsprit shrouds, &c. 4. A branch of a tree. [Not proper.] SHROUD, v.t. 1. To cover; to shelter from danger or annoyance. Under your beams I will me safely shroud. Spenser. One of these trees with all its young ones, may shroud four hundred horsemen. Raleigh. 2. To dress for the grave; to cover; as a dead body. The ancient Egyptian mummies were shrouded in several folds of linen besmeared with gums. Bacon. 3. To cover; to conceal to hide; as, to be shrouded in darkness. -Some tempest rise, And blow out all the stars that light the skies, To shroud my name. Dryden. 4. To defend; to protect by hiding. So Venus from prevailing Greeks did shroud The hope of Rome, and saved him in a cloud. Waller. 5. To overwhelm; as, to be shrouded in despair. 6. To lop the branches of a tree. [Unusual or improper.] SHROUD, v.i. To take shelter or harbor. If your stray attendants be yet lodg'd Or shroud within these limits- Milton. |