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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

nim·bus

Audio Help [nim-buh

s] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -bi

Audio Help [-bahy] Pronunciation Key, -bus·es.

1.	Classical Mythology. a shining cloud sometimes surrounding a deity when on earth.

2.	a cloud, aura, atmosphere, etc., surrounding a person or thing: The candidate was encompassed with a nimbus of fame.

3.	halo (def. 1).

4.	the type of dense clouds or cloud mass with ragged edges, that yields rain or snow; a rain cloud.

5.	(initial capital letter) U.S. Aerospace. one of a series of polar-orbiting meteorological and environmental research satellites, the last of which Nimbus 7, launched 1978, was the first satellite designed to monitor atmospheric pollutants.

[Origin: 1610–20; < L: a rainstorm, rain cloud, thundercloud, cloud; akin to L nebula and Gk nephélé, néphos cloud

]

—Related forms

nimbused, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Nimbus

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

nim·bus Audio Help (nĭm'bəs) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. nim·bi (-bī') or nim·bus·es

A cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth.
A radiant light that appears usually in the form of a circle or halo about or over the head in the representation of a god, demigod, saint, or sacred person such as a king or an emperor.
A splendid atmosphere or aura, as of glamour, that surrounds a person or thing.
A rain cloud, especially a low dark layer of clouds such as a nimbostratus.

[Latin, cloud; see nebh- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
nimbus

1616, "bright cloud surrounding a god," from L. nimbus "cloud," perhaps related to nebula "cloud, mist" (see nebula). Meaning "halo" is first recorded c.1730. Meteorological sense of "a rain cloud" is from 1803. Nimbostratus in the modern sense first attested 1932.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

nimbus
noun
1.	a dark grey cloud bearing rain
2.	an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint [syn: aura]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

nimbus Audio Help (nĭm'bəs) Pronunciation Key
Plural nimbi (nĭm'bī') or nimbuses
A rain cloud.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Nimbus

Cloud\ (kloud), n. [Prob. fr. AS. cl[=u]d a rock or hillock, the application arising from the frequent resemblance of clouds to rocks or hillocks in the sky or air.]

1. A collection of visible vapor, or watery particles, suspended in the upper atmosphere.

I do set my bow in the cloud. --Gen. ix. 13.

Note: A classification of clouds according to their chief forms was first proposed by the meteorologist Howard, and this is still substantially employed. The following varieties and subvarieties are recognized: (a) Cirrus. This is the most elevated of all the forms of clouds; is thin, long-drawn, sometimes looking like carded wool or hair, sometimes like a brush or room, sometimes in curl-like or fleecelike patches. It is the cat's-tail of the sailor, and the mare's-tail of the landsman. (b) Cumulus. This form appears in large masses of a hemispherical form, or nearly so, above, but flat below, one often piled above another, forming great clouds, common in the summer, and presenting the appearance of gigantic mountains crowned with snow. It often affords rain and thunder gusts. (c) Stratus. This form appears in layers or bands extending horizontally. (d) Nimbus. This form is characterized by its uniform gray tint and ragged edges; it covers the sky in seasons of continued rain, as in easterly storms, and is the proper rain cloud. The name is sometimes used to denote a raining cumulus, or cumulostratus. (e) Cirro-cumulus. This form consists, like the cirrus, of thin, broken, fleecelice clouds, but the parts are more or less rounded and regulary grouped. It is popularly called mackerel sky. (f) Cirro-stratus. In this form the patches of cirrus coalesce in long strata, between cirrus and stratus. (g) Cumulo-stratus. A form between cumulus and stratus, often assuming at the horizon a black or bluish tint. -- Fog, cloud, motionless, or nearly so, lying near or in contact with the earth's surface. -- Storm scud, cloud lying quite low, without form, and driven rapidly with the wind.

2. A mass or volume of smoke, or flying dust, resembling vapor. "A thick cloud of incense." --Ezek. viii. 11.

3. A dark vein or spot on a lighter material, as in marble; hence, a blemish or defect; as, a cloud upon one's reputation; a cloud on a title.

4. That which has a dark, lowering, or threatening aspect; that which temporarily overshadows, obscures, or depresses; as, a cloud of sorrow; a cloud of war; a cloud upon the intellect.

5. A great crowd or multitude; a vast collection. "So great a cloud of witnesses." --Heb. xii. 1.

6. A large, loosely-knitted scarf, worn by women about the head.

Cloud on a (or the) title (Law), a defect of title, usually superficial and capable of removal by release, decision in equity, or legislation.

To be under a cloud, to be under suspicion or in disgrace; to be in disfavor.

In the clouds, in the realm of facy and imagination; beyond reason; visionary.

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nimbus

nimbus was Word of the Day on March 25, 2001.

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NIMBUS

NIMBUS: in Acronym Finder