Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth.
- n. 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.
- n. A splendid atmosphere or aura, as of glamour, that surrounds a person or thing.
- n. A rain cloud, especially a low dark layer of clouds such as a nimbostratus.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cloud or system of clouds from which rain is falling; a rain-cloud. See cloud .
- n. In art and Christian archæol., a halo or disk of light surrounding the head in representations of divine or sacred personages; also, a disk or circle sometimes depicted in early times round the heads of emperors and other great men. The nimbus of God the Father is represented as of triangular form, with rays diverging from it on all sides, or in the form of two superposed triangles, or in the same form (inscribed with the cross) as that of Christ. The nimbus of Christ contains a cross more or less enriched; that cf the Virgin Mary is a plain circle, or occasionally a circlet of small stars, and that of angels and sainlsis often a circle of small rays. When the nimbus is depicted of a square form, it is supposed to indicate that the person was alive at the time of delineation. Nimbus is to be distinguished from
aureola and glory. - n. In heraldry, a circle formed of a single line, drawn around the head and disappearing where it seems to go behind it.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. See aureola, and glory, n., 5.
- n. A rain cloud; one of the four principal varieties of clouds. See Cloud.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint
- n. a dark grey cloud bearing rain
Etymologies
- Latin, cloud; see nebh- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Halos: Also known as a nimbus, icebow or Gloriole, a halo is an optical phenomenon that appears near or around the Sun or Moon, and sometimes near other strong light sources such as street lights.”
“I mean,in the anime you may see a car and guns here and there but they arent exactly everywhere and play no part whatsoever in the story,yet here goku has a car called nimbus instead of a cloud.”
Full Dragonball Teaser Trailer Hits As Well! « FirstShowing.net
“This glory was called nimbus, or aureola, and is defined by”
“The spikes are sun rays, he says, and the circle is "simply a halo or what in art is called a nimbus, showing she is divine.”
“These sometimes compulsive, sometimes alienating liberties are contained here in the voice of another of his neurotic escapees from the culture, which in Pierre's terms is a "nimbus" of blasted morals and unchecked market forces.”
“I mean,yellow-green piccolo,an emo school boy goku im 95% sure there will be a "i cant do this,i cant beat this guy" "no you can beat him,believe in yourself!" talk in final battle and a lara-croft rip-off bulma…I also make a wild guess that yellow car will take place of the "nimbus”
Full Dragonball Teaser Trailer Hits As Well! « FirstShowing.net
“Normally, when Judas is depicted, he is distinguished from the other apostles and saints because he has no halo or "nimbus".”
“Figg found himself watching her in a familiar way, with a softening of his feelings toward her, and a kind of nimbus of light around her presence.”
Asimov's Science Fiction
“Shimoda had theorized that women of Gelmann's ilk possessed a sixth sense or power, a kind of nimbus of concentrated maternal energy tendrils which they could fling out with a single word or gesture to stun anyone within range like emotional nematocysts.”
Codgerspace
“Teachers of great spirituality have this "nimbus" of golden yellow, with a border of beautiful blue tint, strongly in evidence.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘nimbus’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 314 more...
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[Open] “What’s that on your head?”
Headgear: “anything worn on the head” (that isn’t part of the head). Hats are fine, but for a more detailed, wider selection of fashionable hats in all colors and sizes, please see Reese Tee’s li...
goggles, wig, headdress, cap, hackamore, halter, bridle, beanie, turban, hat, crown, chapeau and 122 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Words without the letter E
chord, slur, anabaptist, anabolic, diabolic, turbid, torpid, somniloquist, trump, bipolar, dioxin, hydrocarbon and 107 more...
fbharjo a vehicle for a cloud of witnesses ?? they don't march that way Aug 26, 2007
brtom This is the female form;
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot ...
Whitman, "I Sing the Body Electric" Dec 11, 2006