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n. 1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet. 2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog. 3. a. Nautical One of a set of ropes or wire cables stretched from the masthead to the sides of a vessel to support the mast. b. A similar supporting line for a smokestack or comparable structure. c. One of the ropes connecting the harness and canopy of a parachute. v. shroud·ed, shroud·ing, shrouds v.tr. 1. To wrap (a corpse) in burial clothing. 2. b. To envelop or be associated with and make difficult to understand: "Diabetes continued as a kind of underground disease, shrouded in myth and bereft of advocates" (James S. Hirsch). 3. Archaic To shelter; protect. v.intr. Archaic To take cover; find shelter. [Middle English schrud, garment, from Old English scrūd.] |
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