nimbus

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“
She was tall, solid without being fat, thin without being slim, with pale, lightly freckled skin, with a flame-nimbus of dark red hair feather-cut around her skull.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth.
  2. noun 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.
  3. noun A splendid atmosphere or aura, as of glamour, that surrounds a person or thing.
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Examples

  • Sunlight surrounded her with a nimbus, a woman of golden silk, glowing hot. —  Conan The Unconquered
  • A ghostly nimbus, the same that had raced round the table from man to man at the last Wheel council meeting on Luna, surrounded Dom. —  The Grand Wheel
  • Sunlight surrounded her with nimbus, a woman of golden silk, glowing hot. —  Conan The Unconquered
  • She was tall, solid without being fat, thin without being slim, with pale, lightly freckled skin, with a flame-nimbus of dark red hair feather-cut around her skull. —  New Race
  • There is an anecdote of his walking across a public park (I am told Richmond, but more probably it was Wimbledon Common) with his hat in his left hand and his right waving to and fro declamatorily, while the wind blew his hair around his head like a nimbus: so rapt in his ecstasy over the solemn sweep of the Biblical music that he did not observe a small following consisting of several eager children, expectant of thrilling stump-oratory. —  Life of Robert Browning
 

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Nimbus has been looked up 199 times, favorited 0 times, listed 31 times, and commented on twice.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

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

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin nimbus, a rain-cloud, a rain-storm, a cloud, a bright cloud feigned to surround the gods when they appeared on the earth, hence in later use the halo of saints; cf. Latin nubes, a cloud, nebula, a mist, Greek νέφος, νεφέλη, a cloud, a mist: see nebula, nebule. Cf. nimb.
 

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/ˈnɪmbəs/
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