nim·bus

(nĭm′bəs)

n. pl. nim·bi (-bī′) or nim·bus·es

1. A cloudy radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth.

2. 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. A splendid atmosphere or aura, as of glamour, that surrounds a person or thing.

4. A rain cloud, especially a low dark layer of clouds such as a nimbostratus.

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

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nimbus

(ˈnɪmbəs)

n, pl -bi (-baɪ) or -buses

1. (Physical Geography)

a. a dark grey rain-bearing cloud

b. (in combination): cumulonimbus clouds.

2. (Art Terms)

a. an emanation of light surrounding a saint or deity

b. a representation of this emanation

3. a surrounding aura or atmosphere

[C17: from Latin: cloud, radiance]

ˈnimbused adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

nim•bus

(ˈnɪm bəs)

n., pl. -bi (-bī), -bus•es.

1. (in classical myth) a cloud that sometimes surrounds a deity appearing on earth.

2. a cloud, aura, atmosphere, etc., surrounding a person or thing.

3. halo (def. 1).

4. the type of dense cloud that yields rain or snow.

[1610–20; < Latin: cloud; akin to Latin nebula, Greek nephélē, néphos cloud]

nim·bus

(nĭm′bəs)

A rain cloud.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nimbus

Thick grey generally shapeless clouds that form at about 1.3 mi (2km).

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	nimbus - a dark grey cloud bearing rain nimbus cloud, rain cloud cloud - a visible mass of water or ice particles suspended at a considerable altitude aureole, corona - the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere; visible as a white halo during a solar eclipse
	2.	nimbus - an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint gloriole, halo, aura, aureole, glory lightness, light - the visual effect of illumination on objects or scenes as created in pictures; "he could paint the lightest light and the darkest dark"

nimbus

noun halo, atmosphere, glow, aura, ambience, corona, irradiation, aureole Kevin was surrounded by a nimbus of sunlight.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

Nimbus

nimbo

nimbus

[ˈnɪmbəs] N (nimbi or nimbuses (pl)) → nimbo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

nimbus

(Liter: = halo) → Nimbus m (geh), → Heiligenschein m

(Met) ? cumulonimbus

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

nimbus

[ˈnɪmbəs] n → nembo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Old witches, sorceresses, etc., were called hags from the belief that their heads were surrounded by a kind of baleful lumination or nimbus -- hag being the popular name of that peculiar electrical light sometimes observed in the hair.

Properly, a luminous ring encircling an astronomical body, but not infrequently confounded with "aureola," or "nimbus," a somewhat similar phenomenon worn as a head-dress by divinities and saints.

View in context

"Don't ye be nervous, my dear good soul," expostulated, between his coughs, a young man with a wet face, and his straw hat so far back upon his head that the brim encircled it like the nimbus of a saint.

View in context

The other part of the nimbus remained brilliant, and in the midst of this general brilliancy Tycho shone prominently like a sun.

View in context

Several times, taking a walk from his inn into meadows and parks, he stopped by a well-worn stile, looked across through the early evening at a gray church tower, with its dusky nimbus of thick-circling swallows, and remembered that this might have been part of the entertainment of his honeymoon.

View in context

It was as sharp, the question, as a knife in his side, but the answer hung fire still and seemed to lose itself in the vague darkness to which the thin admitted dawn, glimmering archwise over the whole outer door, made a semicircular margin, a cold silvery nimbus that seemed to play a little as he looked - to shift and expand and contract.

View in context

I have heard the great orators of many countries, but not even Gladstone himself could have pleased a cause with most consummate power than did this angular Negro, standing in a nimbus of sunshine, surrounded by the men who once fought to keep his race in bondage.

View in context

The Nimbus II PainPRO is designed for increased safety at an exceptional value.

New Nephron Partnership Offers Solution for Opioid Crisis

Nimbus will retain full control of research and development activities for the programme prior to the programme's option point.

Nimbus Therapeutics and Celgene Expand Alliance to Immunotherapy in Oncology

Nimbus would like a good outdoor space as he has been used to being outside but appreciates a comfy bed and regular meals too.

GIVE A PET A HOME [...]

Briefly, the method by which the cover picture was made is as follows: The Nimbus HRIR analog data is received at the Data Acquisition Stations (Rosman, N.C., or Fairbanks, Alaska) and transmitted to Goddard Space Flight Center where it is digitized and processed by computer to form the Nimbus Meteorological Radiation Tape (NMRT).

Camille in Color

Nimbus has entered in agreements with airlines, hotels and travel bureaus for special rates and have secured funding sufficient to operate the company for one year on an experimental basis to see if this kind of experience will gain traction with a broad range of vacation travelers.

Nimbus, a New Way to Travel to Secret Destinations