n. [ OE. shroud, shrud, schrud, AS. scrūd a garment, clothing; akin to Icel. skruð the shrouds of a ship, furniture of a church, a kind of stuff, Sw. skrud dress, attire, and E. shred. See Shred, and cf. Shrood. ] 1. That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ] Swaddled, as new born, in sable shrouds. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Especially, the dress for the dead; a winding sheet. “A dead man in his shroud.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. That which covers or shelters like a shroud. [ 1913 Webster ] Jura answers through her misty shroud. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. A covered place used as a retreat or shelter, as a cave or den; also, a vault or crypt. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] The shroud to which he won
His fair-eyed oxen. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ] A vault, or shroud, as under a church. Withals. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. The branching top of a tree; foliage. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ] The Assyrian wad a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a shadowing shroad. Ezek. xxxi. 3. [ 1913 Webster ] 6. pl. (Naut.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ] 7. (Mach.) One of the two annular plates at the periphery of a water wheel, which form the sides of the buckets; a shroud plate. [ 1913 Webster ]
Bowsprit shrouds (Naut.), ropes extending from the head of the bowsprit to the sides of the vessel. --
Futtock shrouds (Naut.), iron rods connecting the topmast rigging with the lower rigging, passing over the edge of the top. --
Shroud plate. (a) (Naut.) An iron plate extending from the dead-eyes to the ship's side. Ham. Nav. Encyc. (b) (Mach.) A shroud. See def. 7, above. [ 1913 Webster ]
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