Definition
verbTo part, separate or divide.
verbTo part with, separate from, leave off; cast off, cast, let fall, be divested of.
Sentence Examples
The poor girl shed tears.
I cannot shed a tear for that horrible man.
Paint the shed with weather-resistant paint.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English scheden, schede, from Old English scēadan, scādan (“to separate, divide, part, make a line of separation between; remove from association or companionship; distinguish, discriminate, decide, determine, appoint; shatter, shed; expound; decree; write down; differ”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþan, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną (compare West Frisian skiede, Dutch and German scheiden), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyt- (“to cut, part, divide, separate”), from *skey-.
See also Irish scian (“knife”), Lithuanian skėsti (“to spread”), ski̇́esti (“to separate”), Old Church Slavonic цѣдити (cěditi, “to filter, strain”), Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”), Old Armenian ցտեմ (cʻtem, “to scratch”), Sanskrit च्यति (cyáti, “he cuts off”)). Related to shoad, shit, sheath.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black as they stand."
— 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:
"She called on all the marathoners to go to Staten Island to help with the clean-up effort and to bring the clothes they would have shed at the start to shelters or other places where displaced people were in need."
— 2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 02 Nov 2012:
"Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?"
— c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
"The crash occurred in a steep-sided cutting lined with self-seeded deciduous trees that were shedding their leaves, following unusually heavy rain and high winds in the 12 hours beforehand."
— 2023 November 1, Paul Clifton, “RAIB recommends actions to tackle leaves on the line”, in RAIL, number 995, page 10:
"What tho’ the moon—the white moon
Shed all the splendour of her noon,
Her smile is chilly—and her beam,
In that time of dreariness, will seem
(So like you gather in your breath)
A portrait taken after death."
— 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems: