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c.; also, the quality or degree of anything which is distinguished from others similar by slight differences; as, the shades of meaning in synonyms. New shades and combinations of thought. De Quincey. Every shade of religious and political opinion has its own headquarters. Macaulay. The Shades, the Nether World; the su…

A small, mean dwelling; a rough, slight building for temporary use; a hut.

A slight or temporary structure built to shade or shelter something; a structure usually open in front; an outbuilding; a hut; as, a wagon shed; a wood shed. The first Aletes born in lowly shed. Fairfax. Sheds of reeds which summer's heat repel. Sandys.

Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house.

ural contraction in cooling, as a tire on a wheel, or a hoop upon a cannon, which is made slightly smaller than the part it is to fit, and expanded by heat till it can be slipped into place.

To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of; to burn the ends or outside of; as, to singe the hair or the skin. You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, . . . Singe my white head! Shak. I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass. L'Estrange.

A small draught taken with the lips; a slight taste. One sip of this Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight Beyond the bliss of dreams. Milton. A sip is all that the public ever care to take from reservoirs of abstract philosophy. De Quincey.

To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously. Beau & Fl.

A bay of a barn; also, a slight addition to a cottage. [Prov. Eng.]

To slight; to do carelessly; to scamp. [Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U.S.]

To fight slightly or in small parties; to engage in a skirmish or skirmishes; to act as skirmishers.

g vehicle with low runners or low wheels; or one without wheels or runners, made of plank slightly turned up at one end, used for transporting loads upon the snow, ice, or bare ground; a sled.

Weak; feeble; not strong; slight; as, slender hope; a slender constitution. Mighty hearts are held in slender chains. Pope. They have inferred much from slender premises. J. H. Newman. The slender utterance of the consonants. J. Byrne.

Weak; slight; unsubstantial; poor; as, a slim argument. "That was a slim excuse." Barrow.

ls. Shak. Slippery elm. (Bot.) (a) An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself. (b) A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); -- so called on the Pacific coast.

A roll of wool slightly twisted; a rove; -- called also slubbing.

A mark or stain; hence, a slight reproach or disgrace; a stigma; a reproachful intimation; an innuendo. "Gaining to his name a lasting slur." South.

Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.] By the sly, or On the sly, in a sly or secret manner. [Colloq.] "Gazed on Hetty's charms by the sly." G. Eliot. -- Sly goose (Zoöl.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.

Taste or flavor, esp. a slight taste or flavor; savor; tincture; as, a smack of bitter in the medicine. Also used figuratively. So quickly they have taken a smack in covetousness. Robynson (More's Utopia). They felt the smack of this world. Latimer.

Being of slight consequence; feeble in influence or importance; unimportant; trivial; insignificant; as, a small fault; a small business.