Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something, especially a structure, that provides cover or protection, as from the weather.
- noun An establishment that provides temporary housing for homeless people.
- noun An establishment that cares for unwanted or stray animals and tries to find owners for them.
- noun The state of being covered or protected.
- intransitive verb To provide cover or protection for.
- intransitive verb To invest (income) to protect it from taxation.
- intransitive verb To take cover; find refuge.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A cover or defense from exposure, attack, injury, distress, annoyance, or the like; whatever shields or serves as a protection, as from the weather, attack, etc.; a place of protection: as, a shelter from the rain or wind; a shelter for the friendless.
- noun The protection or immunity from attack, exposure, distress, etc., afforded by a place or thing; refuge; asylum.
- noun Synonyms Screen, shield.
- noun Cover, covert, sanctuary, haven. See the verb.
- To protect from exposure, attack, injury, distress, or the like; afford cover or protection to; hence, to harbor: as, to
shelter thieves. - To place under cover or shelter; seek shelter or protection for; house; with a reflexive pronoun, to take refuge; betake one's self to cover or a safe place.
- Synonyms To Defend, Protect, etc. (see
keep ), shield, screen, shroud, house, ensconce, hide. - To take shelter.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To take shelter.
- noun That which covers or defends from injury or annoyance; a protection; a screen.
- noun One who protects; a guardian; a defender.
- noun The state of being covered and protected; protection; security.
- noun a small tent made of pieces of cotton duck arranged to button together. In field service the soldiers carry the pieces.
- transitive verb To be a shelter for; to provide with a shelter; to cover from injury or annoyance; to shield; to protect.
- transitive verb To screen or cover from notice; to disguise.
- transitive verb To betake to cover, or to a safe place; -- used reflexively.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
refuge ,haven or othercover orprotection from something - noun An
institution thatprovides temporary housing forhomeless people ,battered women etc - verb transitive To
provide cover - verb intransitive To
take cover
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun temporary housing for homeless or displaced persons
- verb invest (money) so that it is not taxable
- noun protective covering that provides protection from the weather
- noun a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger
- verb provide shelter for
- noun the condition of being protected
- noun a way of organizing business to reduce the taxes it must pay on current earnings
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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They have about 350 beds at about 15 locations around throughout the City and since they are self-managed, the cost per person sheltered at a SHARE shelter is 1/3 to 1/10 (costs range greatly depending on the case management needs of folks in shelter) of what it costs the city to fund other shelters.
SHARE Gets Bus Tickets from Metro But Vows Further Protests « PubliCola 2010
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The term "shelter" magazine is used for the most upscale home magazines, which focus on living well.
The Seattle Times 2011
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Hurry the shelter is almost full for the evening. ck
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Being the humanitarian that I am, I obligingly pulled out my pocket knife – I carry a pocket knife because the walk from the parking garage to the shelter is about 1/4 of a mile and it is a sketchy neighborhood – but anyway I pulled out my pocket knife and I got it off for him.
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SANCHEZ: ... what they called the shelter of last resort.
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So the carport that I believe you see in the video is what we refer to as a shelter of last resort.
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So, we were forced to take what we call a shelter of last resort.
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They insult 1 minute ago 1:41 PM Notice the word "shelter".
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011
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One rainy day, she takes shelter from a warehouse which is apparently occupied by some group of motorcycle enthusiasts, the Rideback Club.
Anime Preview: Winter 2008/2009 First Impressions – Batch 2 « Undercover 2009
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So she called the shelter and was soon running with the men.
New York's Homeless Lace Up to Change Their Lives Melanie Grayce West 2012
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Geoff Nunberg went to the mike and professed himself shocked that everyone had paid so little attention to the ghastly government euphemism tender-age shelter (also tender-age camp, tender-age facility, and other variants), applied to the places in three towns about 300 miles outside Houston where migrant children separated from families that crossed the Mexican border are being interned.
Can a Word Capture the Zeitgeist of a Year? No. Maybe. Yes It Can. John Moore, Getty Images 2019
bilby commented on the word shelter
I feel like I'm punching down a bit here given this is quite a modest little two syllable word but I just don't like the way it sounds.
March 14, 2024