Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday August 25, 2004
nimbus \NIM-buhs\
, noun:
1. (Fine Arts) A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo.
2. A cloud or atmosphere (as of romance or glamour) that surrounds a person or thing.
3. (Meteorology) A rain cloud.
Sometimes when she stood in front of a lamp, the highlights on her hair made a nimbus.
-- James Morgan, The Distance to the Moon
The two lights over the front steps were haloed with a hazy nimbus of mist, and strange insects fluttered up against the screen, fragile, wing-thin and blinded, dazed, numbed by the brilliance.
-- Karen V. Kukil (Editor), The Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962
Mara felt she could practically see a nimbus of light around her, like the biblical Esther before she becomes queen.
-- Anna Shapiro, The Scourge
Decorated in royal green and gold with crystal chandeliers and plush furniture, the office featured a lighted full-length portrait of Johnson leaning against a bookcase and two overhead lamps projecting "an impressive nimbus of golden light" as Lyndon sat at his desk.
-- Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant
Nimbus is from the Latin nimbus, "a rain cloud, a rain storm."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for nimbus
