shroud

American  

[shroud] / ʃraʊd /

noun

• shrouds
  plural

1. a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.

   Synonyms:

   winding sheet

2. something that covers or conceals like a garment.

   a shroud of rain.

3. 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.

4. Also called shroud line.  Aeronautics. any of a number of suspension cords of a parachute attaching the load to the canopy.

5. Also called shrouding.  Machinery.

   1. (on a nonmetallic gear) an extended metal rim enclosing the ends of the teeth on either side.

   2. (on a water wheel) one of two rings of boards or plates enclosing the buckets at their ends.

6. Rocketry. a cone-shaped shield that protects the payload of a launch vehicle.

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verb (used with object)

• shrouds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shrouded,
  past participle,  past
• shrouding
  present participle

1. to wrap or clothe for burial; enshroud.

2. to cover; hide from view.

   Synonyms:

   screen, conceal

3. to veil, as in obscurity or mystery.

   They shrouded their past lives in an effort to forget.

4. to provide (a water wheel) with a shroud.

5. Obsolete. to shelter.

verb (used without object)

• shrouds,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shrouded,
  past participle,  past
• shrouding
  present participle

1. Archaic. to take shelter.

shroud British  

/ ʃraʊd /

noun

1. a garment or piece of cloth used to wrap a dead body

2. anything that envelops like a garment

   a shroud of mist

3. a protective covering for a piece of equipment

4. astronautics a streamlined protective covering used to protect the payload during a rocket-powered launch

5. nautical one of a pattern of ropes or cables used to stay a mast

6. any of a set of wire cables stretched between a smokestack or similar structure and the ground, to prevent side sway

7. Also called: shroud line.  any of a set of lines running from the canopy of a parachute to the harness

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verb

1. (tr) to wrap in a shroud

2. (tr) to cover, envelop, or hide

3. archaic to seek or give shelter

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shroudless
  adjective
• shroudlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• shrouds
  plural

Participles

• shrouding
  present
• shrouded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shroud
  simple
• shrouds
  simple
• have shrouded
  perfect
• has shrouded
  perfect
• am shrouding
  progressive
• are shrouding
  progressive
• is shrouding
  progressive
• have been shrouding
  perfect progressive
• has been shrouding
  perfect progressive

Past

• shrouded
  simple
• had shrouded
  perfect
• was shrouding
  progressive
• were shrouding
  progressive
• had been shrouding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shroud
  simple
• will have shrouded
  perfect
• will be shrouding
  progressive
• will have been shrouding
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shroud shrouds shrouded shrouding

The situation leaves a shroud of uncertainty over the play-offs before the second leg.

From BBC ● May 12, 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

“We expect that the shroud of uncertainty created by the conflict will weigh on the PMI this month.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

Hidden beneath that thick acoustic engine shroud, the new high-output turbo assembly isn’t much to look at.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

The gaslights cast flickering shadows over the shroud, as though something was moving under there.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Iranian state television released footage showing dozens of bodies in shrouds lined up inside and outside of a morgue near Tehran on Sunday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026

An AFP correspondent in Spin Boldak said they saw hundreds of people attending funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025

The news agency also reported seeing bodies wrapped in white shrouds at Nasser hospital.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 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

If lunged toward the shrouds, momentarily eclipsing the stunning golden light.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

From afar, the Sagrada Família, shrouded in mist, appears otherworldly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

There’s something very powerful there: She’s demystifying a process that can still be shrouded in unnecessary secrecy, and making a choice many women have at least considered.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

No counterculture event is more shrouded in hype than this annual gathering of thrill-seekers, Instagram influencers, billionaires and whichever artists can still afford to attend.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

The US president posted the threat on social media on Friday as thick smoke shrouded Washington DC and New York City as it drifted across a large swathe of the eastern US.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

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

Even then, Reagan was helped greatly by the restive climate stemming from the Watts riots, widespread campus unrest and voter fatigue shrouding the incumbent, Jerry Brown’s father, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025

In all three decisions just one voting option was available, shrouding the proceedings in controversy.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024

There is, however, a palpable disconnect between the jest shrouding the account in these posts and the reception evident in the comment sections.

From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2024

Sometimes the stones seemed to drink up noise, shrouding the yards in a blanket of silence.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Related Words

• cloak
• pall
• veil