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Webster 1913 Edition

Cloud

Cloud

(kloud)
,
Noun.
[Prob. fr. AS.
clūd
a rock or hillock, the application arising from the frequent resemblance of clouds to rocks or hillocks in the sky or air.]
1.
A collection of visible vapor, or watery particles, suspended in the upper atmosphere.
I do set my bow in the
cloud
.
Gen. ix. 13.
☞ A classification of clouds according to their chief forms was first proposed by the meteorologist Howard, and this is still substantially employed. The following varieties and subvarieties are recognized:
(a)
Cirrus
. This is the most elevated of all the forms of clouds; is thin, long-drawn, sometimes looking like carded wool or hair, sometimes like a brush or room, sometimes in curl-like or fleecelike patches. It is the cat’s-tail of the sailor, and the mare's-tail of the landsman.
(b)
Cumulus
. This form appears in large masses of a hemispherical form, or nearly so, above, but flat below, one often piled above another, forming great clouds, common in the summer, and presenting the appearance of gigantic mountains crowned with snow. It often affords rain and thunder gusts.
(c)
Stratus
. This form appears in layers or bands extending horizontally.
(d)
Nimbus
. This form is characterized by its uniform gray tint and ragged edges; it covers the sky in seasons of continued rain, as in easterly storms, and is the proper rain cloud. The name is sometimes used to denote a raining cumulus, or cumulostratus.
(e)
Cirro-cumulus
. This form consists, like the cirrus, of thin, broken, fleecelice clouds, but the parts are more or less rounded and regulary grouped. It is popularly called mackerel sky.
(f)
Cirro-stratus
. In this form the patches of cirrus coalesce in long strata, between cirrus and stratus.
(g)
Cumulo-stratus
. A form between cumulus and stratus, often assuming at the horizon a black or bluish tint. –
Fog
, cloud, motionless, or nearly so, lying near or in contact with the earth's surface. –
Storm scud
, cloud lying quite low, without form, and driven rapidly with the wind.
2.
A mass or volume of smoke, or flying dust, resembling vapor.
“A thick cloud of incense.”
Ezek. viii. 11.
3.
A dark vein or spot on a lighter material, as in marble; hence, a blemish or defect;
as, a
cloud
upon one's reputation; a
cloud
on a title
.
4.
That which has a dark, lowering, or threatening aspect; that which temporarily overshadows, obscures, or depresses;
as, a
cloud
of sorrow; a
cloud
of war; a
cloud
upon the intellect
.
5.
A great crowd or multitude; a vast collection.
“So great a cloud of witnesses.”
Heb. xii. 1.
6.
A large, loosely-knitted scarf, worn by women about the head.
Cloud on a
(or the)
title
(Law)
,
a defect of title, usually superficial and capable of removal by release, decision in equity, or legislation.
–
To be under a cloud
,
to be under suspicion or in disgrace; to be in disfavor.
–
In the clouds
,
in the realm of facy and imagination; beyond reason; visionary.

Cloud

(kloud)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Clouded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Clouding
.]
1.
To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds;
as, the sky is
clouded
.
2.
To darken or obscure, as if by hiding or enveloping with a cloud; hence, to render gloomy or sullen.
One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,
Hath
clouded
all thy happy days on earth.
Shakespeare
Be not disheartened, then, nor
cloud
those looks.
Milton.
Nothing
clouds
men's minds and impairs their honesty like prejudice.
M. Arnold.
3.
To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish; to damage; – esp. used of reputation or character.
I would not be a stander-by to hear
My sovereign mistress
clouded
so, without
My present vengeance taken.
Shakespeare
4.
To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors; as, to
cloud
yarn.
And the nice conduct of a
clouded
cane.
Pope.

Cloud

,
Verb.
I.
To grow cloudy; to become obscure with clouds; – often used with
up
.
Worthies, away! The scene begins to
cloud
.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Cloud

CLOUD

,
Noun.
[I have not found this word in any other language. The sense is obvious--a collection.]
1.
A collection f visible vapor, or watery particles, suspended in the atmosphere, at some altitude. A like collection of vapors near the earth is usually called fog.
I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. 9.
Behold, a white cloud. Rev. 14.
2.
A state of obscurity or darkness.
3.
A collection of smoke, or a dense collection of dust, rising or floating in the air; as a cloud of dust.
A cloud of incense. Ezek. 8.
4.
The dark or varied colors, in veins or spots, on stones or other bodies, are called clouds.
5.
A great multitude; a vast collection.
Seeing we are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. Heb. 12.

CLOUD

,
Verb.
T.
To overspread with a cloud or clouds; as, the sky is clouded; clouds intercept the rays of the sun. Hence,
2.
To obscure; to darken; as, to cloud the day, or truth, or reason.
3.
To darken in veins or spots; to variegate with colors; as clouded marble.
4.
To make of a gloomy aspect; to give the appearance of sullenness.
What sullen fury clouds his scornful brow.
5.
To sully; to tarnish.

CLOUD

,
Verb.
I.
To grow cloudy; to become obscure with clouds; sometimes followed by over; as, the sky clouds over.

Definition 2024

Cloud

Cloud

See also: cloud

English

Proper noun

Cloud

  1. A surname​.

cloud

cloud

See also: Cloud

English

Clouds

Noun

cloud ‎(plural clouds)

  1. (obsolete) A rock; boulder; a hill.
  2. A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:
      So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  3. Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.
    • 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
      Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
  4. Anything which makes things foggy or gloomy.
  5. A group or swarm, especially suspended above the ground or flying.
    He opened the door and was greeted by a cloud of bats.‎
  6. 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.‎
  7. (computing, with "the") The Internet, regarded as an amorphous omnipresent space for processing and storage, the focus of cloud computing.
    • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
      Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
  8. (figuratively) A negative aspect of something positive: see every cloud has a silver lining or every silver lining has a cloud.
    • 2011 January 25, Phil McNulty, “Blackpool 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC:
      The only cloud on their night was that injury to Rafael, who was followed off the pitch by his anxious brother Fabio as he was stretchered away down the tunnel.
  9. (slang) Crystal methamphetamine.
  10. A large, loosely-knitted headscarf worn by women.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:cloud.

Hyponyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:cloud

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Verb

cloud ‎(third-person singular simple present clouds, present participle clouding, simple past and past participle clouded)

  1. (intransitive) To become foggy or gloomy, to become obscured from sight.
    The glass clouds when you breathe on it.
  2. (transitive) To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds.
    The sky is clouded.
  3. (transitive) To make obscure.
    All this talk about human rights is clouding the real issue.
  4. (transitive) To make gloomy or sullen.
    • Shakespeare
      One day too late, I fear me, noble lord, / Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth.
    • Milton
      Be not disheartened, then, nor cloud those looks.
  5. (transitive) To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish (reputation or character).
    • Shakespeare
      I would not be a stander-by to hear / My sovereign mistress clouded so, without / My present vengeance taken.
  6. (transitive) To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colours.
    to cloud yarn
    • Alexander Pope
      the nice conduct of a clouded cane

Translations

Anagrams

French

Noun

cloud m ‎(uncountable)

  1. (computing, Anglicism, with le) the cloud.

Synonyms

See also

Spanish

Noun

cloud m ‎(plural clouds)

  1. (computing) cloud

Etymology

From Middle English cloud, cloude, clod, clud, clude, from Old English clūd ‎(“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz ‎(“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‎(“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots cloud, clud ‎(“cloud”), Dutch kluit ‎(“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute ‎(“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß ‎(“lump, dumpling, meatball”), Danish klode ‎(“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot ‎(“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót ‎(“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to clod, clot, clump, club.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /klaʊd/
  • Rhymes: -aʊd

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