Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - shelter

(shelters, sheltering, sheltered) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A shelter is a small building or covered place which is made to protect people from bad weather or danger. The city’s bomb shelters were being prepared for possible air raids. ...a bus shelter. N-COUNT 2. If a place provides shelter, it provides you with a place to stay or live, especially when you need protection from bad weather or danger. The number of families seeking shelter rose by 17 percent... ...the hut where they were given food and shelter. N-UNCOUNT 3. A shelter is a building where homeless people can sleep and get food. ...a shelter for homeless women. N-COUNT 4. If you shelter in a place, you stay there and are protected from bad weather or danger. ...a man sheltering in a doorway... VERB: V prep/adv 5. If a place or thing is sheltered by something, it is protected by that thing from wind and rain. ...a wooden house, sheltered by a low pointed roof. VERB: usu passive, V-ed 6. If you shelter someone, usually someone who is being hunted by police or other people, you provide them with a place to stay or live. A neighbor sheltered the boy for seven days. VERB: V n 7. see also sheltered