Category:Cloud

Cloud, n. Etym: [Prob. fr. AS. cld 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, susponded in the upper atmosphere. I do set my bow in the cloud. Genesis 9:13.

Note: 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) Cirrocumulus. 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) Cirrostratus. In this form the patches of cirrus coalesce in long strata, between cirrus and stratus. (g) Cumulostratus. 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." Ezekiel 8:11.

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." Hebrews 7:1.

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 Cloud, v. 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. Shak. 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. Shak.

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 Cloud, v. i.

Defn: To grow cloudy; to become obscure with clouds; -- often used with up. Worthies, away! The scene begins to cloud. Shak.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

 - The Hebrew so rendered means "a covering," because clouds cover the sky. The word is used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the splendour of that glory which it conceals (Exodus 16:10; Exodus 33:9; Numbers 11:25; Numbers 12:5; Job 22:14; Psalms 18:11). A "cloud without rain" is a proverbial saying, denoting a man who does not keep his promise (Proverbs 16:15; Isaiah 18:4; Isaiah 25:5; Jude 1:12). A cloud is the figure of that which is transitory (Job 30:15; Hosea 6:4). A bright cloud is the symbolical seat of the Divine presence (Exodus 29:42, Exodus 29:43; 1 Kings 8:10; 2 Chronicles 5:14; Ezekiel 43:4), and was called the Shechinah (q.v.). Jehovah came down upon Sinai in a cloud (Exodus 19:9); and the cloud filled the court around the tabernacle in the wilderness so that Moses could not enter it (Exodus 40:34, Exodus 40:35). At the dedication of the temple also the cloud "filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:10). Thus in like manner when Christ comes the second time he is described as coming "in the clouds" (Matthew 17:5; Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:9, Acts 1:11). False teachers are likened unto clouds carried about with a tempest (2 Peter 2:17). The infirmities of old age, which come one after another, are compared by Solomon to "clouds returning after the rain" (Ecclesiastes 12:2). The blotting out of sins is like the sudden disappearance of threatening clouds from the sky (Isaiah 44:22). Cloud, the pillar of, was the glory-cloud which indicated God's presence leading the ransomed people through the wilderness (Exodus 13:22; Exodus 33:9, Exodus 33:10). This pillar preceded the people as they marched, resting on the ark (Exodus 13:21; Exodus 40:36). By night it became a pillar of fire (Numbers 9:17).