shroud
Americannoun
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shrouds
plural
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a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.
- Synonyms:
- winding sheet
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something that covers or conceals like a garment.
a shroud of rain.
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Nautical. any of a number of taut ropes or wires converging from both sides on the head of a lower or upper mast of the outer end of a bowsprit to steady it against lateral sway: a part of the standing rigging.
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Also called shroud line. Aeronautics. any of a number of suspension cords of a parachute attaching the load to the canopy.
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Also called shrouding. Machinery.
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(on a nonmetallic gear) an extended metal rim enclosing the ends of the teeth on either side.
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(on a water wheel) one of two rings of boards or plates enclosing the buckets at their ends.
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Rocketry. a cone-shaped shield that protects the payload of a launch vehicle.
verb (used with object)
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shrouds,
present (3rd person singular)
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shrouded,
past participle, past
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shrouding
present participle
verb (used without object)
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shrouds,
present (3rd person singular)
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shrouded,
past participle, past
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shrouding
present participle
noun
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a garment or piece of cloth used to wrap a dead body
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anything that envelops like a garment
a shroud of mist
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a protective covering for a piece of equipment
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astronautics a streamlined protective covering used to protect the payload during a rocket-powered launch
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nautical one of a pattern of ropes or cables used to stay a mast
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any of a set of wire cables stretched between a smokestack or similar structure and the ground, to prevent side sway
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Also called: shroud line. any of a set of lines running from the canopy of a parachute to the harness
verb
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(tr) to wrap in a shroud
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(tr) to cover, envelop, or hide
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archaic to seek or give shelter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shroudsimple
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shroudssimple
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have shroudedperfect
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has shroudedperfect
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am shroudingprogressive
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are shroudingprogressive
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is shroudingprogressive
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have been shroudingperfect progressive
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has been shroudingperfect progressive
Past
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shroudedsimple
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had shroudedperfect
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was shroudingprogressive
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were shroudingprogressive
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had been shroudingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shroud
before 1000; (noun) Middle English; Old English scrūd; cognate with Old Norse skrūth; akin to shred; (v.) Middle English shrouden, derivative of the noun; replacing Middle English shriden, Old English scrȳdan, derivative of scrūd
Explanation
Are the rules of calculus shrouded in mystery to you? The verb shroud means to hide or cover something or someone. The fog might shroud the valley, or that long-sleeved, ankle-length dress might shroud the tan you worked so hard on in Mexico over Christmas break. It used to be that corpses were dressed for burial not in person’s best outfit but in a shroud — a garment, often white, made to cover the body. When ghosts, zombies or mummies are depicted in rags, they are wearing the remains of their burial shrouds. If you should hide from them by covering yourself with an abandoned tarp, you will be shrouding yourself from sight.
Vocabulary lists containing shroud
"Beowulf," Vocabulary from the epic poem
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Now, during high marmot season between May and July, blue, green and beige tarps shroud most cars at Mineral King, which sits below jagged Sierra Nevada peaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
They spin a variety of amazing webs, from the typical orb web, with its hub-and-spoke pattern, to funnel-like tube webs and sheet webs that can drape over an entire landscape like a shroud.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
If no one came to identify her, the team would prepare a clean white shroud, wash her according to Muslim custom and bury her nearby.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
Bodies are wrapped in a shroud of biodegradable material such as silk or wool before being placed in a pressurised chamber with hot water and chemicals, speeding up decomposition.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
No one could see through the shroud unless she wanted them to.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser Hospital, where the bodies of some of those killed were laid out in white shrouds.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
She feels cleansed by the sea and the fog that shrouds the world’s ugliness, and believes there is happiness to be salvaged from the wreckage of her past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
Yet despair shrouds Vuong’s characters, immigrants and other outsiders for whom the American Dream isn’t an inkling.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2025
They are very graphic and show bodies lined up in the courtyard of a mosque, covered with shrouds and blankets.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2024
It swung a long arm toward the shrouds.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Toxic smoke from peatland as well as forest fires has shrouded towns and cities in the region for more than a month, sending respiratory complaints skyrocketing.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
In Singapore, iconic landmarks are being shrouded in toxic haze from the fires.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
But the ancient world in which early eukaryotes evolved remains shrouded in mystery.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
Illuminated by her signature scarlet red clothing and tastefully shrouded in sheets, the soft expression on her face was inspired by Raphael’s “La Fornarina.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Ignoring the spines of an overgrown rattan, she wedged herself up against a rotting log shrouded with moss and air plants.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
The overarching question shrouding the film is not, “Did they do it?” but rather, “So what if they did?”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
TORONTO—Hundreds of out-of-control wildfires are burning in Canada, shrouding skies there and the U.S. in an eerie yellow-gray haze and forcing the evacuation of dozens of communities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The toxic haze shrouding the Indian capital, Delhi, spares no-one, but its children are counting the biggest cost of the city's worsening and recurrent pollution problem.
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025
Under the glass lid, I glimpsed the delicate white shrouding over the chest and up like a hood about the face on which I tried to concentrate for as long as I could.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
