Definition of shroud

• n. - That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment.
• n. - Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet.
• n. - That which covers or shelters like a shroud.
• n. - A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt.
• n. - The branching top of a tree; foliage.
• n. - A set of ropes serving as stays to support the masts. The lower shrouds are secured to the sides of vessels by heavy iron bolts and are passed around the head of the lower masts.
• n. - One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate.
• n. - To cover with a shroud; especially, to inclose in a winding sheet; to dress for the grave.
• n. - To cover, as with a shroud; to protect completely; to cover so as to conceal; to hide; to veil.
• v. i. - To take shelter or harbor.
• v. t. - To lop. See Shrood.