shame: the public disgrace and humiliation of being defeated, exposed, or let down, together with the dishonor a person feels and carries because of it
In the Hebrew Bible this word is not mainly a private feeling of guilt. It is chiefly public: the loss of standing that comes when a person is defeated in battle, caught in wrongdoing, stripped bare, or left holding onto something that failed them. To be covered or clothed with shame is to have one's honor stripped away in front of everyone. That is why it so often lands on enemies who are beaten and on nations whose gods or allies could not save them.
Because it works this way, the word points in two directions at once. It names the outward condition of disgrace, the dishonored state a defeated or exposed person is in, and it names the inward humiliation that condition produces. Hebrew keeps both together in one word, and English usually has to pick between them, most often settling on shame or disgrace.
A small but striking group of verses turns the word into a scornful nickname. Rather than name the god Baal, the prophets call the idol the Shame, refusing to dignify it and labeling it for what worship of it brings. This is the same word for shame, aimed like an insult.