cloud
/ˈklaʊ̯d/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms clouds clouding clouded cloude clowd
- noun A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
- noun Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.
- noun Anything reminiscent of a cloud. “The ship moved forward under a cloud of sail.”
- noun Anything which makes things foggy, unclear or gloomy.
- noun (figurative) Anything unsubstantial.
- noun A dark spot on a lighter material or background.
- noun (collective) A group or swarm of insects, various animals or people, especially when flying. “He opened the door and was greeted by a cloud of bats.”
- noun An elliptical shape or symbol whose outline is a series of semicircles, supposed to resemble a cloud. “The comic-book character's thoughts appeared in a cloud above his head.”
- verb (intransitive) To become foggy or gloomy, or obscured from sight. “The glass clouds when you breathe on it.”
- verb (transitive) To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds. “The sky is clouded.”
- verb Of the breath, to become cloud; to turn into mist.
- verb (transitive) To make obscure. “All this talk about human rights is clouding the real issue.”
- verb (transitive) To make less acute or perceptive. “Your emotions are clouding your judgement.”
- verb (transitive) To make gloomy or sullen.
- verb (transitive) To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish (reputation or character).
- verb (transitive) To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors. “to cloud yarn”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
fog gloom becloud mist bedarken bedim begloom engloom besmirch denigrate stain assassinate asperse backbite badmouth befoul belibel besmear bewray blacken swarm overcast obscure befog obnubilate haze over defile sully corrupt taint
Etymology
From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”).
Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English welkne, from Old English wolcn (whence English welkin), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną, the original Germanic word for cloud (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke, North Frisian and West Frisian wolk).
* As an English surname, from Old English clūd (“rock”).
* As a Native American surname, translated from names such as Dakota mahpiya (“cloud”). Compare Red Cloud.
* As a French surname, from an old Germanic name Hlodald, composed of *hlūd (“loud, famous, clear”) + *wald (“rule”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A collection of visible vapor, or watery particles, susponded in the upper atmosphere.
- noun A mass or volume of smoke, or flying dust, resembling vapor. "A thick cloud of incense." Ezek. viii. 11.
- verb To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds; as, the sky is clouded.
- verb To darken or obscure, as if by hiding or enveloping with a cloud; hence, to render gloomy or sullen.
Etymology [Prob. fr. AS. cld a rock or hillock, the application arising from the frequent resemblance of clouds to rocks or hillocks in the sky or air.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cloud”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details