eclipse

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
2. n. The period of time during which such an obscuration occurs.
3. n. A temporary or permanent dimming or cutting off of light.
4. n. A fall into obscurity or disuse; a decline: "A composer . . . often goes into eclipse after his death and never regains popularity” ( Time).
5. n. A disgraceful or humiliating end; a downfall: Revelations of wrongdoing helped bring about the eclipse of the governor's career.
6. v. To cause an eclipse of.
7. v. To obscure; darken.
8. v. To obscure or diminish in importance, fame, or reputation.
9. v. To surpass; outshine: an outstanding performance that eclipsed the previous record.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In astronomy, an interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon, or other heavenly body, by the intervention of another heavenly body either between it and the eye or between it and the source of its illumination. An eclipse of the sun is caused by the intervention of the moon between it and the earth, the sun's disk being thus partially or entirely hidden; an eclipse of the moon is occasioned by the earth passing between it and the sun, the earth's shadow obscuring the whole or part of its surface, but never entirely concealing it. The number of eclipses of the sun and moon cannot be fewer than two nor more than seven in one year, exclusive of penumbral eclipses of the moon. The most usual number is four, seven being very rare. Jupiter's satellites are eclipsed by passing through his shadow. See occultation.
2. n. Figuratively, any state of obscuration; an overshadowing; a transition from brightness, clearness, or animation to the opposite state: as, his glory has suffered an eclipse.
3. To obscure by an eclipse; cause the obscuration of; darken or hide, as a heavenly body: as, the moon eclipses the sun.
4. To overshadow; throw in the shade; obscure; hence, to surpass or excel.
5. To suffer an eclipse.

Wiktionary

1. n. An astronomical alignment in which a planetary object (for example, the Moon) comes between the Sun and another planetary object (for example, the Earth), resulting in a shadow being cast by the middle object onto the other object.
2. n. A seasonal state of plumage in some birds, notably ducks, adopted temporarily after the breeding season and characterised by a dull and scruffy appearance.
3. n. Obscurity, decline, downfall
4. v. transitive Of astronomical bodies, to cause an eclipse.
5. v. transitive To overshadow; to be better or more noticeable than.
6. v. to undergo eclipsis

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Astron.) An interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention of some other body, either between it and the eye, or between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon coming between the sun and the observer. A satellite is eclipsed by entering the shadow of its primary. The obscuration of a planet or star by the moon or a planet, though of the nature of an eclipse, is called an occultation. The eclipse of a small portion of the sun by Mercury or Venus is called a transit of the planet.
2. n. The loss, usually temporary or partial, of light, brilliancy, luster, honor, consciousness, etc.; obscuration; gloom; darkness.
3. v. To cause the obscuration of; to darken or hide; -- said of a heavenly body.
4. v. To obscure, darken, or extinguish the beauty, luster, honor, etc., of; to sully; to cloud; to throw into the shade by surpassing.
5. v. To suffer an eclipse.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention
2. v. be greater in significance than
3. n. one celestial body obscures another