dark vs shade

dark

verb
  • To make dark, darken; to obscure. 

  • To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed. 

  • To grow or become dark, darken. 

adj
  • Off the air; not transmitting. 

  • Ambiguously or unclearly expressed: enigmatic, esoteric, mysterious, obscure, undefined. 

  • Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign. 

  • With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form, or a portion of either. 

  • Deprived of sight; blind. 

  • Transmitting, reflecting, or receiving inadequate light to render timely discernment or comprehension: caliginous, darkling, dim, gloomy, lightless, sombre. 

  • Having racing capability not widely known. 

  • Marked by or conducted with secrecy: hidden, secret; clandestine, surreptitious. 

  • Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak. 

  • Lacking progress in science or the arts. 

  • Extinguished. 

  • Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light. 

  • Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. 

  • Extremely sad, depressing, or somber, typically due to, or marked by, a tragic or undesirable event. 

noun
  • A complete or (more often) partial absence of light. 

  • Ignorance. 

  • Nightfall. 

  • A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc. 

shade

verb
  • To darken, particularly in drawing. 

  • To shield (someone or something) from light. 

  • To reduce (a window) so that only its title bar is visible. 

  • To alter slightly. 

  • To move slightly from one's normal fielding position. 

  • To vary or approach something slightly, particularly in color. 

  • To surpass by a narrow margin. 

  • To throw shade, to subtly insult someone. 

  • To shield oneself from light. 

noun
  • Something that blocks light, particularly in a window. 

  • A variety of a colour/color, in particular one obtained by adding black (compare tint). 

  • An aspect that is reminiscent of something. 

  • A very small degree of a quantity, or variety of meaning 

  • A ghost or specter; a spirit. 

  • A subtle variation in a concept. 

  • A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry. 

  • Subtle insults. 

  • A candle-shade. 

  • A cover around or above a light bulb, a lampshade. 

  • Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked. 

How often have the words dark and shade occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )