nimbus
/ˈnɪmbəs/ noun
Forms nimbi nimbuses
Synonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin nimbus (“dark cloud”). Doublet of nimb.
Sense 2 (“grey rain cloud”) was coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun A rain cloud; one of the four principal varieties of clouds.
Etymology [L., a rain storm, a rain cloud, the cloudshaped which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nimbus”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details