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Dictionary:

nimbus

  (nĭm'bəs) pronunciation
n., pl. -bi (-bī') or -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.]


 
 
Architecture: nimbus

A halo or disk of light surrounding the head in representations of divine and sacred personages.


 
in art
in meteorology

(nĭm'bəs) , in art, the luminous disk or circle or other indication of light around the head of a sacred personage. It was used in Buddhist and other Asian art and by the early Greeks and Romans to designate gods and heroes and appeared in Christian art in the 5th cent. Although usually a circle or disk, the nimbus has various forms—triangular for God the Father; a circle with a cross for Jesus; a square for a living person; a disk or circle for a saint, with sometimes a band of small stars for the Virgin Mary. In stained glass Jesus and the Virgin were often represented surrounded by an ovoid light called a vesica piscis [Lat.,=fish bladder] (see iconography). The square form was symbolic of the material world; the circle symbolized spiritual perfection and eternal blessedness; and the triangle represented eternity and the Trinity. The nimbus is usually of gold and may have a clearly defined outline or the light may be diffused, radiating from the head in lines that melt into the picture. The term aureole may denote a crown or radiance around the head or it may be an oval used as a background for the whole body. When nimbus and aureole are combined for one figure, the illumination is called a glory. An almond-shaped glory is a mandorla. Halo is a nontechnical term to denote either a disk behind the head or a circle surrounding it.

nimbus, in meteorology, low, dark, formless cloud covering the entire sky, from which rain or snow is steadily falling. The term is usually applied to any cloud from which rain descends. Modifications are cumulonimbus, fractonimbus (ragged, broken nimbus), and nimbostratus.


 
Wikipedia: Nimbus (disambiguation)

Nimbus may mean:


In science & engineering

In culture

In fiction

  • The Flying Nimbus cloud from the Dragon Ball Series.
  • Nimbus, a DC Comics character formerly known as the Omega Men member Felicity
  • Nimbus The name of the spaceship commanded by Zapp Brannigan on the futuristic animated series Futurama
  • Nimbus, fictional broomsticks from the Harry Potter series
  • The Mist, a DC Comics supervillain, who briefly went by the name Nimbus

 
Translations: Translations for: Nimbus

Dansk (Danish)
n. - nimbus, glorie

Nederlands (Dutch)
stralenkrans, regenwolk, nimbus

Français (French)
n. - (Météo) nimbus, nimbe

Deutsch (German)
n. - Nimbus, graue Regenwolke, Heiligenschein, Strahlenkranz

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - φωτοστέφανος, άλως, (μετεωρ.) μελανίας

Italiano (Italian)
nembo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - nimbo (m), auréola (f)

Русский (Russian)
нимб, ореол

Español (Spanish)
n. - nimbo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gloria, nimbus, regnmoln

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
幻云, 光环, 雨云

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 幻雲, 光環, 雨雲

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (종교화)후광, 분위기, 매력, 비구름

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 後光, 頭光, 気韻, ニンバス, 乱雲, 雨雲, 光雲, 雰囲気

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) هاله نورانيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עטרת-אור, הילה, ענני-צעיף, ענן קודר, ענן-גשם‬


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nimbus" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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