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under a cloud

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cloud

  [kloud]
Use under a cloud in a Sentence
–noun
1. a visible collection of particles of water or ice suspended in the air, usually at an elevation above the earth's surface.
2. any similar mass, esp. of smoke or dust.
3. a dim or obscure area in something otherwise clear or transparent.
4. a patch or spot differing in color from the surrounding surface.
5. anything that obscures or darkens something, or causes gloom, trouble, suspicion, disgrace, etc.
6. a great number of insects, birds, etc., flying together: a cloud of locusts obscuring the sun.
–verb (used with object)
7. to overspread or cover with, or as with, a cloud or clouds: The smoke from the fire clouded the sun from view.
8. to overshadow; obscure; darken: The hardships of war cloud his childhood memories.
9. to make gloomy.
10. (of distress, anxiety, etc.) to reveal itself in (a part of one's face): Worry clouded his brow.
11. to make obscure or indistinct; confuse: Don't cloud the issue with unnecessary details.
12. to place under suspicion, disgrace, etc.
13. to variegate with patches of another color.
–verb (used without object)
14. to grow cloudy; become clouded.
15. (of a part of one's face) to reveal one's distress, anxiety, etc.: His brow clouded with anger.
—Idioms
16. in the clouds,
a. in a condition of absent-mindedness; lost in reverie.
b. impractical: Their schemes are usually up in the clouds.
17. on a cloud, Informal. exceedingly happy; in high spirits: On the night of the prom the seniors were on a cloud.
18. under a cloud, in disgrace; under suspicion: After going bankrupt he left town under a cloud.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE clūd rock, hill; prob. akin to clod

Related forms:
cloudlike, adjective

Synonyms:
1. vapor. 6. swarm, horde, multitude, throng, host, crowd, army. 16. Cloud, fog, haze, mist differ somewhat in their figurative uses. Cloud connotes esp. daydreaming: His mind is in the clouds. Fog and haze connote esp. bewilderment or confusion: to go around in a fog (haze). Mist has an emotional connotation and suggests tears: a mist in one's eyes. 11. muddle, distort.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

cloud 
O.E. clud "mass of rock," from P.Gmc. *kludas, metaphoric extension 13c. based on similarity of cumulus clouds and rock masses. O.E. word for "cloud" was weolcan. Cloudy is O.E. cludig (in the rock sense), in the water vapor sense, c.1300. Cloudburst (1817, Amer.Eng.) parallels Ger. Wolkenbruch. The imaginary city Cloud Cuckoo Land, built in air, is from Aristophanes' Nephelokokkygia in "The Birds" (414 B.C.E.). Cloud nine is 1950s, Amer.Eng., of uncertain origin or significance. There was a similar association of cloud seven, but some connect the phrase with the 1896 International Cloud-Atlas, long the basic source for cloud shapes, in which, of the ten cloud types, cloud No. 9, cumulonimbus, was the biggest, puffiest, most comfortable-looking.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Science Dictionary
cloud   (kloud)  Pronunciation Key 


(click for larger image in new window)

  1. A visible body of very fine water droplets or ice particles suspended in the atmosphere at altitudes ranging up to several miles above sea level. Clouds are formed when air that contains water vapor cools below the dew point.

  2. A distinguishable mass of particles or gas, such as the collection of gases and dust in a nebula.


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

under a cloud

Under suspicion, in trouble, or out of favor, as in Ever since his brother was accused of fraud, he's been under a cloud. This metaphoric expression calls up the image of a single black cloud hanging over an individual. [c. 1500]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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