take the shadow for the substance
To be easily deceived, credulous, superficial.
substance
UK /ˈsʌbstəns/ US /ˈsʌbstəns/
noun 5verb 1
Definitions
noun
1
Physical matter; material.
Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
His wasted hands were stretched out, and worked with a quick and convulsive motion, as if catching some small substances which kept eluding their grasp;...
2
Physical matter; material.
3
The essential part of anything; the most vital part.
Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance, not the appearance, chose.
1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.
4
Substantiality; solidity; firmness.
Some textile fabrics have little substance.
5
Material possessions; estate; property; resources.
a man of substance
And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
verb
1
To give substance to; to make real or substantial.
If life were nothing but what gets phrased and substanced, the world might as well be rolled up and laid away again in darkness.
The calm ruminating / Reverie, substancing / Intellect into emotion, / Is shelter enough for love / Unhumiliated by faith.
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