shallow
see also: Shallow
Etymology
Shallow
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
see also: Shallow
Etymology
From Middle English schalowe; apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde, from Old English sċeald, from Proto-Germanic *skal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁-.
Pronunciation Adjectiveshallow (comparative shallower, superlative shallowest)
- Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
- This crater is relatively shallow.
- Sauté the onions in a shallow pan.
- Extending not far downward.
- The water is shallow here.
- Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
- It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.
- Lacking interest or substance; flat; one-dimensional.
- The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.
- Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.
- Synonyms: skin-deep
- shallow learning
- 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC ↗:
- The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.
- (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
- 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗:
- the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring
- (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net.
- (of an angle) Not steep; close to horizontal.
- a shallow climb
- a shallow descent
- a shallow bank angle
- French: peu profond, superficiel
- German: flach; (of bodies of water also) seicht, untief
- Italian: superficiale
- Portuguese: raso, superficial
- Russian: ме́лкий
- Spanish: poco profundo, superficial, playo
- French: peu profond
- German: seicht
- Italian: poco profondo
- Portuguese: superficial
- Russian: ме́лкий
- Spanish: superficial, playo, improfundo, inhondo
- French: superficiel
- German: oberflächlich
- Italian: superficiale
- Portuguese: superficial
- Russian: пове́рхностный
- Spanish: superficial
- French: superficiel
- German: oberflächlich
- Italian: superficiale
- Portuguese: desinteressante
- Russian: пове́рхностный
- Spanish: superficial, desinteresante
shallow (plural shallows)
- A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
- The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.
- 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗:
- A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but […] upon shallows of gravel.
- 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
- dashed on the shallows of the moving sand
- 1941, Theodore Roethke, “The Premonition”, in Open House; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, 1975, →ISBN, page 6:
- He dipped his hand in the shallow:
Water ran over and under
Hair on a narrow wrist bone; […]
- A fish, the rudd.
- (historical) A costermonger's barrow.
- 1871, Belgravia, volume 14, page 213:
- You might have gone there quite as easily, and enjoyed yourself much more, had your mode of conveyance been the railway, or a hansom, or even a costermonger's shallow.
- French: haut-fond, baisse, bas-fond (dated)
- German: Untiefe
- Italian: secca
- Portuguese: raso, rasa
- Russian: мель
- Spanish: bajo, bajofondo
shallow (shallows, present participle shallowing; simple past and past participle shallowed)
- (ambitransitive) To make or become less deep.
Shallow
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
