um|brel|la «uhm BREHL uh», noun, adjective.
–n.
1. a light, portable, folding frame covered with cloth or plastic, used as a protection against rain or sun.
2. Figurative: »
This is just short of the total 256 million bushels put under the Federal price umbrella for the entire season last year (Wall Street Journal).
3. the gelatinous disk- or bowl-shaped body of a jellyfish; bell.
–adj.
1. resembling an umbrella.
2. Figurative: »
Within this large umbrella framework it should be possible to work out the necessary system of nuclear control (Listener). Therapies based on conditioning and learning theory [are] grouped under the umbrella term “behaviour therapy” (New Scientist).
SYNONYM(S): general, comprehensive.╂[< Italian ombrella, ombrello < ombra shade < Latin umbra]
–um|brel´la|like´, adjective.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.