King James Bible Dictionary

SHEL'TER, noun [Latin celo.]

1. That which covers or defends from injury or annoyance. A house is a shelter from rain and other inclemencies of the weather; the foliage of a tree is a shelter from the rays of the sun.

The healing plant shall aid,

From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. Pope.

2. The state of being covered and protected; protection; security.

Who into shelter takes their tender bloom. Young.

3. He that defends or guards from danger.

SHEL'TER, verb transitive

1. To cover from violence, injury, annoyance or attack; as a valley sheltered from the north wind by a mountain.

Those ruins shelter'd once his sacred head. Dryden.

We besought the deep shelter to us. Milton.

2. To defend; to protect from danger; to secure or render safe; to harbor.

What endless shall you gain,

to save and shelter Troy's unhappy train? Dryden.

3. To betake to cover or a safe place.

They sheltered themselves under a rock. Abbot.

4. To cover from notice; to disguise for protection.

In vain I strove to check my growing flame,

Or shelter passion under friendship's name. Prior.

SHEL'TER, verb intransitive To take shelter

There the Indian herdsman shunning heat,

Shelters in cool. Milton.

SHEL'TERED, participle passive Covered from injury or annoyance; defended; protected.

SHEL'TERING, participle present tense Covering from injury or annoyance; protecting.

SHEL'TERLESS, adjective Destitute of shelter or protection; without home or refuge.

Now sad and shelterless perhaps she lies. Rowe.

SHEL'TERY, adjective affording shelter. [Little used.]