† shadowishadj.
Obsolete.
1. Characterized by shadow, shady.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > intercepting or cutting off of light > [adjective] > casting a shadow > overshadowed > lying in shade or abounding in shade
shadowy1398
shadowed1400
umbrous1480
shadowish1530
shadeful1563
shadowous1585
shady1589
umbrageous1622
shaded1635
swaly1820
adumbral1855
umbraged1890
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 323/1 Shadowysshe, vmbrageux.
1568 W. Turner Herbal iii. 66 Sanicle..groweth commonlye in colde and shadoish woddes and hedges.
2.
a. Of the nature of or resembling shadow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > intercepting or cutting off of light > [adjective] > casting a shadow > of or relating to or resembling a shadow
shadowly1434
umbratilea1637
shadowish1642
1642 J. Eaton Honey-combe Free Justific. 278 As the walls of the house cannot of their own nature but cast forth all day long a shadowish darkness.
b. transferred and figurative. Unsubstantial, fleeting; figurative, mystical.Very common in the 16th and 17th centuries.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adjective]
secrec1386
mystica1398
mystical1516
dark1532
arcane1547
occulta1549
shadowish1561
abstruse1576
cryptical1588
shrouded (also involved, wrapped) in mysterya1616
mysterious1622
mysterial1630
cryptica1638
researched1653
rarefied1662
arcanalc1828
sphinx-like1837
sphinxine1845
abstrusive1848
Sphingine1925
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [adjective] > unsubstantial or merely apparent
shadowy1374
phantom?c1450
shadowish1561
dreamish1563
fleshlessa1592
dreamya1594
shadowed1597
unreal1605
phantasmatic1607
dreamlike1615
umbratilous1637
phantasmatical1642
umbratile1647
moonshine1668
phantomical1687
visionary1697
faerie1767
filmlike1804
phantasmal1805
spectral1816
moonshiny1821
phantomatica1834
parheliacal1852
phantomic1878
translunar1927
celluloid1928
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 8 Euen thys is it, to make a shadowishe God, to driue farre away the true God whome we ought to feare and worshyp.
1621 Three Quest. Answ. Fourth Commandment 30 Take heed this doctrine bee not rather shadowish then substantiall.
1685 J. Bunyan Questions Seventh-day-Sabbath iv. 33 The nature of that Law is moral, but the..Circumstances thereunto belonging, are shadowish and figurative.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > insecure knowledge, uncertainty > [adverb] > obscurely
obscurelya1527
diffuselyc1530
infinitely1530
diffusedly1567
cloudily1651
shadowishlya1680
vaguely1781
nebulouslya1796
undefinably1796
undefinedly1827
hazily1830
a1680 J. Glanvill Saducismus Triumphatus (1681) i. 172 A certain faculty in the Soul, which in some manner, though very shadowishly, answers to that Power in God of creating Matter.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1530