Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The partial or complete obscuring, relative to a designated observer, of one celestial body by another.
  • noun The period of time during which such an obscuration occurs.
  • noun A temporary or permanent dimming or cutting off of light.
  • noun A fall into obscurity or disuse; a decline.
  • noun A disgraceful or humiliating end; a downfall.
  • transitive verb To cause an eclipse of.
  • transitive verb To obscure; darken.
  • transitive verb To obscure or diminish in importance, fame, or reputation.
  • transitive verb To surpass; outshine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To obscure by an eclipse; cause the obscuration of; darken or hide, as a heavenly body: as, the moon eclipses the sun.
  • To overshadow; throw in the shade; obscure; hence, to surpass or excel.
  • To suffer an eclipse.
  • noun 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.
  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To suffer an eclipse.
  • transitive verb To cause the obscuration of; to darken or hide; -- said of a heavenly body.
  • transitive verb To obscure, darken, or extinguish the beauty, luster, honor, etc., of; to sully; to cloud; to throw into the shade by surpassing.
  • noun (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.
  • noun The loss, usually temporary or partial, of light, brilliancy, luster, honor, consciousness, etc.; obscuration; gloom; darkness.
  • noun (Astron.) See under Annular.
  • noun See under Cycle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun 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.
  • noun A seasonal state of plumage in some birds, notably ducks, adopted temporarily after the breeding season and characterised by a dull and scruffy appearance.
  • noun Obscurity, decline, downfall
  • verb transitive Of astronomical bodies, to cause an eclipse.
  • verb transitive To overshadow; to be better or more noticeable than.
  • verb to undergo eclipsis

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause an eclipse of (a celestial body) by intervention
  • verb be greater in significance than
  • noun one celestial body obscures another

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin eclīpsis, from Greek ekleipsis, from ekleipein, to fail to appear, suffer an eclipse : ek-, out; see ecto– + leipein, to leave; see leikw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin eclīpsis, from Ancient Greek ἔκλειψις (ekleipsis, "eclipse"), from ἐκλείπω (ekleipō, "I abandon"), from ἐκ (ek, "out") and λείπω (leipō, "I leave behind").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word eclipse.

Examples

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word 'eclipse' comes from the Greek word ékleipsis, or ekleíp (ein), which means to leave out, forsake, fail to appear

    CreationWiki - Recent changes [en] Grace Lackey 2010

  • The word eclipse comes from the Greek for "abandonment," and captures the sense of foreboding the sun's vanishing act inspired even in civilizations whose astronomers had figured out why and when the darkness would fall.

    Mysteries Of The Sun 2008

  • ‡ The term eclipse is also used to refer to a general decline or temporary obscurity: “After taking the title last year, the team has gone into an eclipse this season.

    eclipse 2002

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • What a Cockney barber does at work?

    May 5, 2010

  • A loose one will sink an ecshipse.

    November 23, 2023