nimbus
(ˈnɪmbəs)
Pl. nimbi (rare), or -uses.
[a. L. nimbus cloud, etc., perh. related to nebula, nubes.]
1. A bright cloud, or cloudlike splendour, imagined as investing deities when they appeared on earth. Also fig.
| 1616 B. Jonson Masques Wks. 927 In nature of those Nimbi, wherein..the Gods are fain'd to descend. 1874 H. R. Reynolds John Bapt. viii. 490 The manhood was lost in the nimbus of celestial glory. |
b. transf. A cloud, halo, or atmosphere, investing a person or thing.
| 1860 Motley Netherl. ii. (1868) I. 39 A nimbus of musk and violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals. 1864 Sala Quite Alone i, There is the young lady herself, encompassed with a nimbus of petticoat. 1881 Hueffer Wagner 20 The romantic old castle surrounded by the nimbus of both history and romance. |
2. Art. A bright or golden disk surrounding the head,
esp. of a saint.
Cf. aureole n. 2,
halo n. 2.
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The nimbus is seen on the medals of Maurice, Phocas, and others, even of the upper empire. 1843–5 Westwood Pal. Sacra s.v. Gk. Gospels 2 A medallion of the bust of Christ, invested with the cruciferous nimbus and cross. 1854 Fairholt Dict. Terms Art 58/1 As an attached attribute of power, the nimbus is often seen attached to the heads of evil spirits. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 225 At Venice, one only knows a fisherman by his net, and a saint by his nimbus. |
| transf. 1863 M. E. Braddon J. Marchmont i, A Nimbus of golden hair shone about his..forehead. |
| fig. 1834 Keightley Tales ii. 32 The East.., imagination has always invested its front with a nimbus of splendour. |
3. Meteorol. A rain-cloud.
| 1803 L. Howard Modif. Clouds (1830) 11 Of the Nimbus, or Cumulo-cirro-stratus. Ibid. 13 The nimbus, although in itself one of the least beautiful clouds [etc.] 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxv. 247 A rainy southwester too..was now spreading with its black nimbus over the bay. 1887 R. Abercromby Weather iii. 111 Every kind of cloud from which rain falls is a nimbus, and there are practically two sorts—cumulo-nimbus..; and pure nimbus. |
| attrib. 1897 Daily News 9 Nov. 6/6 The nimbus clouds of the snowstorms covered it. |
| fig. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. x. 241 Ah! but what if the stormy nimbus of youthful passion has blown by? 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. i. (1866) 193 Their whole internal state will be under a nimbus of confusion. |