English Explanatory Dictionary

cloud

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
  2. Any mass of dust, steam or smoke resembling such a mass.
  3. Anything which makes things foggy or gloomy.
  4. Anything unsubstantial.
  5. A dark spot on a lighter material or background.
  6. A group or swarm, especially suspended above the ground or flying.
  7. An elliptical shape or symbol whose outline is a series of semicircles, supposed to resemble a cloud.
  8. A telecom network (from their representation in engineering drawings).
  9. The Internet, regarded as an abstract amorphous omnipresent space for processing and storage, the focus of cloud computing.
  10. A negative or foreboding aspect of something positive: see every cloud has a silver lining or every silver lining has a cloud.
  11. Crystal methamphetamine.
  12. A large, loosely-knitted headscarf worn by women.
verb
  1. To become foggy or gloomy, or obscured from sight.
  2. To overspread or hide with a cloud or clouds.
  3. Of the breath, to become cloud; to turn into mist.
  4. To make obscure.
  5. To make less acute or perceptive.
  6. To make gloomy or sullen.
  7. To blacken; to sully; to stain; to tarnish (reputation or character).
  8. To mark with, or darken in, veins or sports; to variegate with colors.
  9. To become marked, darkened or variegated in this way.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈklaʊ̯d/ en-us-cloud.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cloud.wav En-uk-cloud.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-cloud.wav /ˈklæʊ̯d/ /ˈklaːd/

Word forms

cloud clouds cloude clowd clouding clouded

Etymology

From Middle English cloud, from Old English clūd (“mass of stone, rock, boulder, hill”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, *klutaz (“lump, mass, conglomeration”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”). Cognate with Scots clood, clud (“cloud”), Dutch kluit (“lump, mass, clod”), German Low German Kluut, Kluute (“lump, mass, ball”), German Kloß (“lump, ball, dumpling”), Danish klode (“sphere, orb, planet”), Swedish klot (“sphere, orb, ball, globe”), Icelandic klót (“knob on a sword's hilt”). Related to English clod, clot, clump, club. Largely replaced Middle English wolken, from Old English wolcn (whence Modern English welkin), the commonest Germanic word (compare Dutch wolk, German Wolke).

Synonyms

cloud fog gloom becloud mist bedarken bedim begloom engloom besmirch denigrate stain assassinate asperse backbite badmouth befoul belibel besmear bewray blacken blame blaze blemish blot blur calumniate calumny chat shit chat shite defame demonize deprave depreciate detract dirty discredit disgrace disparage disrepute diss drag through the mud forgab forspeak foul infamize lampoon libel malign monsterize muddy reproach revile scandal shit-talk slag slander smear smirch spatter

Related words

fog mist nebulous :Category:Clouds

Derived words

accessory cloud acloud banner cloud becloud blow a cloud brown cloud cap cloud cloud 9 cloudage cloud bank cloud base cloudberry cloud bow cloud bread cloud-built cloudburst cloud-burst cloud burst cloudbust cloudbuster cloudbusting cloud canal cloudcapt cloud-capt cloudcast cloud ceiling cloud chamber cloud chaser cloud chasing cloud cisticola cloud computing cloud cover cloud-cuckoo-land cloud cuckoo land cloud cuckoo-land cloud deck cloud deer cloud ear cloud egg clouden clouder cloudery cloudfall cloud-first cloud forest cloudform cloudfree cloudful cloud genus cloud-headed cloud hole cloudification cloudify cloudiness cloudish cloud kitchen cloudland cloudless cloudlet cloudlike
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