Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableIn a condition characterized by comfort, success, easy living, or general well-being.
Republicans should not "believe these stories that we're taking it easy—that we've got it made in the shade."
1966 November 1, Paul Beck, “Reagan Says He Would Choose ‘Best Talent’ to Help Run State”, in Los Angeles Times, page 12 more examples
"You got it made now, Parson," Feeney informed him. "You know that? Made in the shade. . . . You lucky bastard,"
1978, Russell Banks, The New World, →ISBN, pages 76–77Courtnall has it made in the shade now, big money, owns restaurants and a spiffy log cabin on a cliff over the crashing ocean.
2005, Mark Anthony Jarmon, "Righteous Speedboat," in Our Game: An All-Star Collection of Hockey Fiction by Doug Beardsley, p. 242
Origin
Possibly from a children's rhyme: "ice-cold lemonade, made in the shade, stirred with a spade, by an old maid."
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
made in the shade. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/made%20in%20the%20shade
“made in the shade.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/made%20in%20the%20shade. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “made in the shade,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/made%20in%20the%20shade.
Source: made in the shade on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.