—n.
1 a visible mass of condensed watery vapour floating in the atmosphere high above the general level of the ground.
2 a mass of smoke or dust.
3 (foll. by of) a great number of insects, birds, etc., moving together.
4 a a state of gloom, trouble, or suspicion. b a frowning or depressed look (a cloud on his brow).
5 a local dimness or a vague patch of colour in or on a liquid or a transparent body.
6 an unsubstantial or fleeting thing.
7 obscurity.
—v.
1 tr. cover or darken with clouds or gloom or trouble.
2 intr. (often foll. by over, up) become overcast or gloomy.
3 tr. make unclear.
4 tr. variegate with vague patches of colour.
Phrases and idioms:
cloud-castle a daydream. cloud chamber a device containing vapour for tracking the paths of charged particles, X-rays, and gamma rays. clouded leopard a mottled arboreal S. Asian feline, Neofelis nebulosa. cloud-hopping movement of an aircraft from cloud to cloud esp. for concealment. cloud-land a utopia or fairyland. in the clouds
1 unreal, imaginary, mystical.
2 (of a person) abstracted, inattentive. on cloud nine (or seven) colloq. extremely happy. under a cloud out of favour, discredited, under suspicion. with one's head in the clouds day-dreaming, unrealistic.
Derivatives:
cloudless adj. cloudlessly adv. cloudlet n.
Etymology: OE clud mass of rock or earth, prob. rel. to CLOD
Useful english dictionary. 2012.