shroud

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet.
2. n. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog.
3. n. Nautical One of a set of ropes or wire cables stretched from the masthead to the sides of a vessel to support the mast.
4. n. A similar supporting line for a smokestack or comparable structure.
5. n. One of the ropes connecting the harness and canopy of a parachute.
6. v. To wrap (a corpse) in burial clothing.
7. v. To shut off from sight; screen. See Synonyms at block.
8. v. Archaic To shelter; protect.
9. v. Archaic To take cover; find shelter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A garment; a covering of the nature of a garment; something which envelops and conceals; clothing.
2. n. A winding-sheet; a piece of linen or other cloth in which a dead body is enveloped; hence, by extension, a garment for the dead, as a long white robe or gown, prepared expressly for the burial.
3. n. Protection.
4. n. A place of shelter; covert; retreat.
5. n. A place under ground, as the burrow of an animal, a vault, the crypt of a church, etc.: sometimes in the plural, used collectively as a singular.
6. n. One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water-wheel which form the sides of the buckets.
7. To cover as with a garment or veil; especially, to clothe (a dead body) for burial.
8. To clothe one's self in; put on.
9. To cover or deck as with a garment; overspread; inclose; envelop.
10. To cover so as to disguise or conceal; veil; obscure.
11. To shelter; screen; hide.
12. To put one's self under cover; take shelter.
13. To gather together, as beasts do for warmth.
14. n. One of a set of strong ropes extending from a ship's mastheads to each side of the ship to support the mast. The shrouds of the lower masts and topmasts are generally spoken of as rigging: as, the fore-, main-, or mizzen- rigging. The topmast shrouds extend from the topmast-heads'to the top-rims. The topgallant-shrouds extend from the topgallantmast-heads to the outer ends of the topmast-cross-trees, and frequently thence to the tops. The bowspritshrouds support the bowsprit on both sides. The futtock-shrouds, to which the lower ends of the topmast- and topgallant shrouds are secured, extend from the outer rims of the tops and crosstrees to a spider-band round the lower mast or topmast. The lower ends of the fore-, main-, and mizzen-shrouds are set up to chain-plates bolted to the side of the ship. See cuts under channeland ship.
15. To lop the branches from; trim, as a tree.
16. n. A cutting, as of a tree or plant; a slip.
17. n. A bough; a branch; hence, collectively, the branching top or foliage of a tree.
18. n. In machinery: A rim or flange cast on the ends of the teeth of a gear-wheel, so that they appear to be formed entirely or partly in the solid periphery of the wheel. If the flange or shroud extends radially to the tips of the teeth, the term full or whole shrouding is used; if the flange extends only to the pitch-line, half-shrouding is applied to it. Two wheels in gear may both be half shrouded if of the same width of face; if one is cast with a full shroud, the gear meshing with it cannot have any; or if not of the same width of face, the narrower one cannot have any. The shroud is to give increased strength to the teeth and diminish the danger of breaking. It is particularly serviceable for gears of large circular pitch and small diameter, giving an increase of strength of nearly 50 per cent.
19. n. In an undershot wheel, the cylindrical surface at the inner circumference or bottom of the bucket.
20. n. The name given to the legendary portrait of Christ which is supposed to have been imprinted on the shroud in which he was wrapped in the tomb.

Wiktionary

1. n. That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment.
2. n. Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet.
3. n. That which covers or shelters like a shroud.
4. n. A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt.
5. n. The branching top of a tree; foliage.
6. n. nautical A rope or cable serving to support the mast sideways.
7. n. One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate.
8. v. To cover with a shroud.
9. v. To conceal or hide from view, as if by a shroud.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment.
2. n. Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet.
3. n. That which covers or shelters like a shroud.
4. n. obsolete A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt.
5. n. rare The branching top of a tree; foliage.
6. n. (Naut.) A set of ropes serving as stays to support the masts. The lower shrouds are secured to the sides of vessels by heavy iron bolts and are passed around the head of the lower masts.
7. n. (Mach.) One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate.
8. v. To cover with a shroud; especially, to inclose in a winding sheet; to dress for the grave.
9. v. To cover, as with a shroud; to protect completely; to cover so as to conceal; to hide; to veil.
10. v. obsolete To take shelter or harbor.
11. v. Prov. Eng. To lop. See shrood.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. form a cover like a shroud
2. v. cover as if with a shroud
3. n. (nautical) a line (rope or chain) that regulates the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind
4. n. burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
5. n. a line that suspends the harness from the canopy of a parachute
6. v. wrap in a shroud