▪ I. obscure, a. (n.)
(əbˈskjʊə(r))
[a. OF. obscur (14th c.), earlier oscur (12th c.) = It. oscuro, Sp., Pg. obscuro:—L. obscūr-us, f. ob- (ob- 1 c) + scur-, f. root scu-, Skr. sku- to cover; cf. L. scū-tum shield, Gr. σκευή attire, covering, σκῦτος hide.]
A. adj.
1. a. Devoid of or deficient in light; dark, dim; hence, gloomy, dismal.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5348 Love is right of sich nature; Now is fair, and now obscure,..And whylom dim, and whylom clere. c 1477 Caxton Jason 19 b, Ha-a- obscure and derke night wherfore endurest thou so long. 1483 ― G. de la Tour E vij b, Put in a pryson which was right derke and obscure. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 51 Is't like that Lead containes her?..it were too grose To rib her seare⁓cloth in the obscure graue. 1611 Bible Prov. xx. 20 Who so curseth his father or his mother, his lampe shall be put out in obscure darkenesse. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 27 Their Chappel is large but obscure. 1799 Cowper Castaway 1 Obscurest night involved the sky. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xliii. (1856) 396 The day misty and obscure. |
b. obscure rays, the dark or invisible heat-rays of the solar spectrum.
| [1794 J. Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 44 Here is therefore a species of light which we may term obscure. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 229 Rays which are obscure to some are luminous to others.] 1863 ― Heat 262 These incandescent coal-points emit an abundance of obscure rays—of rays of pure heat, which have no illuminating power. 1873 W. Lees Acoustics iii. vii. 125 Most sources of heat emit heat rays, which are partly luminous and partly obscure. |
† c. fig. Intellectually dark; unenlightened. Obs.
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. i. 2 The obscure head-pieces of one or two loytering Friers. 1596 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law Ded., The more ignorant and obscure time undertooke to correct the more learned and flourishing. |
2. Of, pertaining to, or frequenting the darkness; enveloped in darkness, and so eluding sight.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 65 The obscure Bird clamor'd the liue-long Night. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 132 Thir Legions..with obscure wing Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night. Ibid. ix. 159 Wrapt in mist Of midnight vapor, glide obscure, and prie In every Bush. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1851) II. 468 In effect, we had no certainty quhair he went, he wes so obscure. 1882 G. F. Armstrong Garl. fr. Greece, Last Sortie 268 There we mocked the keen pursuer's eye, And moved obscure in noiseless solitude. |
3. Of colour or hue: Approaching black, dark, sombre; in later use, dingy, dull, not bright.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 79 The holy waters dedicate to the sacryfice became blacke and obscure. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. vii. 513 The which divided it selfe into two streames, whereof the one was of a very obscure azure. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 54 Hang'd all over with blacke Arras... So as amongst all these obscure colours, there was not any whit discernable. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 167 It is an ill omen..if their nails decline to a livid or obscure colour. 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass lviii, An obscure Yellow. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Presage, If the new Moon has obscure Horns, and that the upper Horn is obscurer than the lower, it will rain in the Wane of the Moon. 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 136 Wings partly obscure, partly diaphanous. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 284 Obscure,..a surface which reflects the light but little. 1890 A. R. Wallace Darwinism 11 An obscure colour may render concealment more easy for some. |
4. a. Without clearness of form or outline; indistinct; undefined; hardly perceptible to the eye; faint, ‘light’.
| 1593 T. Fale Dialling 45 Draw an obscure or light line from A. to B. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. (1684) 16 You must rule your Paper or Parchment with an obscure Meridian Line, and Parallel Lines. 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1115/4 The Nag hath two obscure flesh Brands on his Buttocks. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 160 ¶2 What is distant is in itself obscure, and, when we have no wish to see it, easily escapes our notice. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 341 Wings slightly tinted with brown, and the nerves obscure. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. iv. (1849) 34 The satellites eclipse Jupiter, sometimes passing like obscure spots across his surface. |
b. With reference to other senses: Indistinctly perceived, felt, or heard; indistinct. spec. of a vowel sound, weak and centralized; reduced.
| [1568 T. Smith De Recta et Emendata Linguæ Anglicæ Scriptione Dialogus 14 Si Galli suum habent fœmininum obscurum, siue fuscum e, quod in fine dictionis positum, propè nihil sonat, auditur tamen, & apud illos est frequentissimum, nostræ linguæ prorsus incognitum.] 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 4/1 He hath a smalle, feeble, and obscure pulse. [a 1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. iii, E..where it endeth, and soundeth obscure and faintly. 1653 J. Wallis Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ i. 6 Eodem loci..formatur Gallorum e fœmininum; sono nempe obscuro. Ibid. 7 Ibidem etiam... Sonatur ò, vel {utilde}, obscurum.] 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physic 220 An obscure voice. 1665 O. Price Vocal Organ B3v The ,e, is twofold. 1. Clear; as in let... 2. Obscure, onely when e is short before r, as in her, liberty, brother, father, merchant. Ibid. B4 The short ŭ, and obscure ò, are formed in the throat, yet narrower then è. 1695 Writing Scholar's Compan. x. 36, o, is obscure, like (oo) or short (u)..before (m) as, come [etc.]. 1791 Walker Eng. Dict., Pronunciation 23 Nothing tends more to tarnish and vulgarize the pronunciation than this short and obscure sound of the unaccented u. 1874 Sweet Eng. Sounds 63 The change of the old u into ə was fully established in the Transition period..Wallis calls it an obscure sound. 1884 New Eng. Dict. Introd. 24 In the Vowels, ordinary (or short) quantity is unmarked..obscure quality by (˘). 1892 W. W. Skeat Primer Eng. Etymol. ii. 25 In the A.S. Dūn-stān..the ā has been shortened, and is now obscure. 1904 Rep. Joint Comm. Phonetic Eng. Alphabet (U.S.) iii. 30 The obscure [ə] is the goal to which the most of the other vowels tend when not supported by the stress. 1909 O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. I. ix. 249 Portuguese short a is an obscure vowel. 1924 J. S. Kenyon Amer. Pronunc. 107 Naturalness..is gained only by observing the normal relation between strest and unstrest syllables, distinct and obscure vowels. 1967 J. D. O'Connor Better Eng. Pronunc. v. 106 In initial position, as in..attempt,..account,..observe, you must again keep it very short and very obscure. |
5. Of a place: Not readily seen or discovered; hidden, retired, secret; remote from observation.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce i, He anone toke hym secretely in to his hows, and ledde hym in to a sure and obscure place. c 1500 Melusine 328 He departed & went by a waye obscure tyl he fond a feld. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 77 Why are you sequestred from all your traine?.. And wandred hither to an obscure plot. 1660 Blount Boscobel 23 Penderel had conveyed Him into the obscurest part of it [a coppice]. 1796 Burke Let. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 6 They pursue, even such as me, into the obscurest retreats, and haul them before their revolutionary tribunals. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. i. iii, I also keep arms even in this obscure and safe retreat. |
6. a. Inconspicuous, undistinguished, unnoticed.
| 1555 Eden Decades 312 Great thynges proceade & increase of smaul & obscure begynnynges. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 60 If you take Nature at the rise..in her rudimental and obscure beginnings. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. (1841) I. Introd. 5 The scene of this little action is not laid very remote, or the circumstance obscure. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Hist. v. (1876) 14 The small and obscure beginnings of great political institutions. |
b. Of persons, their station, descent, etc.: Not illustrious or noted; unknown to fame; humble, lowly, mean.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 33 The yonge man..was discended of a basse and obscure parentage. 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 49 It had byn better for hym to haue byn obscure & vnknowen. 1662 Wood Life Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 462 Died a little better than in an obscure condition. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 10. 69 Be obscure and innocent, rather than conspicuous and guilty. 1750 Gray Elegy 30 Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure. 1878 J. P. Hopps Jesus vi. 25 Jesus called poor fishermen, sorrowful sinners, obscure working-men, neglected children. |
7. fig. a. Not manifest to the mind or understanding; imperfectly known or understood; not clear or plain; hidden, doubtful, vague, uncertain.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 55 There be other names of cities founde in cronicles obscure to the intellecte. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce iii, Of a sentence gyuen upon a derke and obscure cause. 1596 Drayton Legends i. 96 And brought the most obscurest Things to light. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 16 The King of Corsica, who gave no obscure signes of enmity. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 192 Not to know at large of things remote From use, obscure and suttle. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 315 To know the Cause and seat of this Disease, which is often obscure. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 261 Yet geologists have presumed to resort to a nascent order of things..to explain every obscure phenomenon. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 65 The origin of hail is still obscure. |
b. Of words, statements, explanations, meanings: Not perspicuous; not clearly expressed; hard to understand. Also, of a speaker or writer.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 8 Which acte..is so obscure derke and diffuse that the true entent of the makers therof cannot perfitely be undrestond. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 61 b, In seekyng to be short be not obscure. 1573–80 Baret Alv. O 11 A darke, obscure and crabbed style. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iv. xliv. 339 Some of the obscurer places of the New Testament. 1794 Paley Evid. (1825) II. 265 This discourse was obscure. 1865 Grote Plato I. i. 27 Herakleitus of Ephesus, known throughout antiquity by the denomination of the Obscure. 1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. viii. 230 If there are sentences which are at all obscure. |
B. n.
1. Obscurity, darkness; the ‘outer darkness’.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 406 Who shall..through the palpable obscure find out His uncouth way. 1725 Pope Odyss. xix. 458 Cautious in th' obscure he hop'd to fly The curious search of Euryclea's eye. 1812 S. Rogers Voy. Columbus xii. 12 In his progress thro' the dread obscure. 1820 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Oxf. in Vac., As though a palpable obscure had dimmed the face of things. |
2. Indistinctness of outline or colour.
| 1792 A. Young Trav. France (1889) 30 An animated..mass of infinitely varied parts—melting gradually into the distant obscure. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 353 And, in the calm obscure of even, All things and colours fade. |
3. Painting. pl. The ‘shades’ of a picture.
| 1814 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 213 Distance progressively the light, and you will weaken both the clears and the obscures. |
▪ II. obscure, v.
(əbˈskjʊə(r))
[f. obscure a., or the corresp. L. obscūrā-re to obscure, darken, OF. obscurer, earlier oscurer; cf. It. oscurare to darken.]
1. a. trans. To make obscure or dark, to involve in darkness; to darken; to deprive of light or brightness; to dim.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 411 That kynge dreamed that..the bloode of hym obscurede and hidde the sonne. a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. (1557) C iij b, The cloude..Whoes moisture doth obscure allthinges about. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 728 Now of this dark night I perceive the reason: Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 5 The light of the Sun obscureth the light of the Starres. 1703 Pope Winter 30 See gloomy clouds obscure the cheerful day! 1781 Cowper Hope 534 Amazed that shadows should obscure the sight Of one whose birth was in a land of light. 1853 Lytton My Novel iii. xxii, The cuttle-fish, that by obscuring the water sails from its enemy. |
b. intr. (for refl.) To become dark.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxii. 84 The erde did trimmill, the stanis claif, The sone obscurit of his licht. |
c. transf. trans. To make obscure in quality of sound, etc.; spec. to articulate (a vowel) in a weaker, more centralized position.
| a 1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. (1640) i. iii. 36 Where it [sc. e] endeth a last Syllable,..it either soundeth flat... Or, it passeth away obscur'd, like the faint i. as in these, Written..divel, &c. a 1790 B. Franklin Autobiogr. in Writings (1905) I. 358, I found his voice distinct till I came near Front Street, when some noise in that street obscur'd it. 1873 J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Counties Scot. 132 In other positions the vowel sounds are dulled or obscured to such an extent that they lose their original quality and fall into the obscure ĕ described. 1884 New Eng. Dict. Introd. 24 In modern English speech, vowels are regularly obscured in syllables that have neither primary nor subordinate stress, especially in those that follow the main stress. 1924 J. S. Kenyon Amer. Pronunc. 108 The student should rid himself of a common misconception; namely, that the obscuring of certain consonants and vowels owing to lack of stress on syllables or words is the result of a corruption of good English. 1934 S.P.E. Tract xxxix. 621 ‘Short e’. This is rarely raised to [i], and never, except before -r, obscured to [ə]. 1934 S. Robertson Devel. Mod. Eng. (1936) vii. 230 Obscuring and loss of formerly distinctive vowel sounds, and dropping of consonants in phonetically difficult combinations.., are both to be found in Old English. 1935 J. S. Kenyon Amer. Pronunc. (ed. 6) 90 The vowels of unaccented syllables have gradually become obscured to a sound quite different in resonance, or quality, from what they had formerly been. 1962 A. C. Gimson Introd. Pronunc. Eng. vi. 80 Vowels under weak accent are increasingly obscured to [ə] or [ɪ], or are elided. |
2. To dim or lessen the lustre or glory of; ‘to put in the shade’; to overshadow or outshine.
| 1548 Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 30 To deface and obscure Godes glory. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iv. 22 You haue suborn'd this man Of purpose, to obscure my Noble birth. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) II. lxviii. 327 His liberality..obscured the glory of all who had preceded him in the office. 1819 Shelley Cenci iii. i. 102 That faith no agony shall obscure in me. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §4. 129 As yet..the fortunes of the University [of Oxford] were obscured by the glories of Paris. |
3. a. To cover or hide from view; to conceal.
| 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxxiv. 112 He lay hoping to obscure himselfe in an vnfrequented and desolate place. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 210 Blood-thirsty Arabians, who in holes, caues, and bushes, lie obs[c]ured, waiting for..Trauellers. 1678 A. Behn Sir P. Fancy ii. i, What shall I do? 'tis too late to obscure myself. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 70, I have lain obscured in the evening near..where they resort, and..have kill'd 14 of them. 1767 Cries of Blood 22 They plac'd me below..and obscur'd me with boards. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. iv, His grisled beard and matted hair Obscured a visage of despair. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxii. (1878) 548 The moon was now quite obscured. |
† b. intr. (for refl.) To hide oneself. Obs.
| 1603 Petowe in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 105 When you might see all pleasures shun the light, And love obscuer, at Eliza's fall. 1623 Fletcher & Rowley Maid in Mill iv. ii, How! there's bad tidings: I must obscure and hear it. 1632 Shirley Changes iv. i, Here Ile obscure. [Withdrawes.] |
4. To conceal from knowledge or observation; to keep secret the identity of; to keep dark; to disguise. Also refl. † a. Of persons. Obs.
| c 1530 L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 88, I wolde that they wolde set the penne to the paper, and by their industry obscure my rude ignoraunce. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. i. 63 The Prince obscur'd his Contemplation Vnder the Veyle of Wildnesse. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 405 David..fled thence..to Achis,..Prince of Geth: where to obscure himselfe, he was forc't to counterfeit both simplicitie and distraction. |
b. Of things.
| 1757 Foote Author i. Wks. 1799 I. 143 Ay, Robin, there's no obscuring extraordinary talents. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 33 Thou Mirror In whom..All shapes look glorious which thou gazest on! Ay, even the dim words which obscure thee now Flash, lightning-like, with unaccustomed glow. |
5. To render dim or vague to the understanding; to render unintelligible. † to obscure oneself from, to render one's meaning obscure to (obs.).
| 1584 in Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. vi. (1677) 331 He at first obscured himself from me, and would not be plain. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 129 To obscure, rather than illustrate, that which is so..plainly there expressed. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 156 ¶2 The evidence [is] obscured by inaccurate argumentation. 1840 Mill Diss. & Disc. (1875) I. 409 This language..serves not to elucidate, but to disguise and obscure. 1875 Ouseley Mus. Form xii. 57 It [the fugue form for choruses] should be freely adopted whenever it does not too much obscure the sense of the words. |
Hence obˈscuring vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. iv, Under the hatches of obscuring earth. 1611 Cotgr., Obscurcissement, an obscuring, darkening, dimming, ouercasting, ouershadowing. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 494 This obscuring of the Sun [by clouds] at noon, is commonly sudden. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 128 The star..is hid with obscuring clouds. 1873 J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Counties Scot. 133 To indicate this obscuring of unaccented vowels. 1885 Athenæum 26 Sept. 398/2 The relations between Eve and her brother, little Tom, until the premature obscuring of that bright young piece of manhood. |