- hide
- hide vb Hide, conceal, screen, secrete, cache, bury, ensconce are comparable when meaning to withdraw or to withhold from sight or observation. Hide, the general term, and conceal are often interchangeable.But hide may or may not suggest intent{
let me go, that I may hide myself in the field—/ Sam 20:5
}{the snow hides all the ground
}or a putting into a place out of the range of others' sight{hide the money under a mattress
}{he hid somewhere in his grimy little soul a genuine love for music— Kipling
}Conceal, on the other hand, more often implies intention{hidden things that had never been concealed, that had merely been dropped into forgotten corners and out-of-the-way places, to be found a long while afterward— Roberts
}or effective hiding{Sophia had held that telegram concealed in her hand and its information concealed in her heart— Bennett
}or a refusal to divulge{I am glad to be constrained to utter that which torments me to conceal— Shak.
}{Elizabeth was forced to conceal her lover from her father— Woolf
}Screen implies a hiding or concealment of someone or something in danger of being seen or known by interposing between him or it and others something (as a screen or curtain) which shelters and prevents discovery{Wildeve screened himself under a bush and waited— Hardy
}{the mere idea of a woman's appealing to her family to screen her husband's business dishonor— Wharton
}Secrete implies a depositing, often by stealth, in a place screened from view or unknown to others{secrete smuggled goods in a cave
}{squirrels secrete their winter supply of nuts
}{and in mere sound secretes his inmost sense— de la Mare
}Cache implies an even more carefully chosen hiding place than secrete, for it usually implies protection from thieves or from the elements; sometimes the notion of secure storage more or less completely obscures that of concealment{the explorers took only enough food and ammunition for the three days' trip, the rest they cached in pits dug for that purpose
}Bury implies a covering with or a submerging in something that hides or conceals or serves as a hiding place{buried his face in his hands
}{his intention had been to bury the incident in his bosom— Wharton
}Ensconce in the relevant sense implies concealment especially in a raised or enclosed place{bounded into the vehicle and sat on the stool, ensconced from view— Hardy
}{ensconced the boy in a cubbyhole— Peggy Bacon
}hide n *skin, pelt, rind, bark, peel
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
