lampshade

Etymology

It is formed from English lamp + shade.^[2][3][4][5] Etymonline notes that such screens were earlier advertised simply as shades.^[2] Etymonline files the word under its hyphenated spelling.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A screen placed above or around a lighted lamp to modify or direct its light: by 1809, according to Etymonline.^[2] The OED and the Shorter Oxford date the word to the mid-19th century, the OED's first record being an 1850 letter of George Eliot,^[3][4] and Dictionary.com to 1840–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED records attributive and figurative uses as well,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford an adjectival use for things that resemble a lampshade, such as lamp-shade hats.^[4] In parts of the United States (eastern North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky) lampshade has also meant a lamp chimney, whether shaded or not.^[6] In California a lampshade plant is a flowering plant whose white blossoms look like the protective cover of a lamp, probably the jimson weed.^[6]

Timeline

• by 1809 – a screen over or around a lamp to modify or direct its light.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1850.^[3]
• mid 19th century – attributive, resembling a lampshade.^[4]
• 1946 – a lamp chimney, recalled from eastern North Carolina speech of about 1900–10.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shade placed over or around a lamp or light bulb to soften, diffuse or direct its light: She bought a paper lampshade for the hall.^[7][8][3]
2. In parts of the southern and midland United States, a lamp chimney.^[6]

Adjective

1. Shaped like or suggesting a lampshade: a lampshade hat.^[4]

Related words

• lamp
• shade

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster