cloud1 (kloud)

[ E. welkin, q. v.). Cf. cloud2.] 1. A collection of visible vapor or watery particles suspended in the air at a considerable altitude. A like collection of vapors upon the earth is called fog. The average height of the clouds is estimated at between two and three miles, but it varies at different times of the year. The forms of clouds are indefinitely variable; they are commonly cla ified roughly as follows: (a) The cir rus, a cloud somewhat resembling a lock or locks of hair Cirrus. (the cat's - tail of the sailor), consisting of wavy parallel or divergent filaments, generally at a great height in the atmosphere, and spreading indefinitely. (6) The cumulus, Cumulus. a cloud which a umes the form of dense convex or conical heaps, resting on a horizontal base. Also called day or summer cloud. (c) The stratus, also called fall - cloud Stratus. from its lowne , or cloud of night, an extended, continuous, level sheet of cloud, increasing from beneath. These three principal forms produce in combination forms denominated as follows: (d) Cirro - cumulus, a connected system of small roundish clouds placed in close order and separated by intervals of sky, often occurring in warm dry weather. Also called mackerel - sky. (e) Cirro- stratus, a horizontal or slightly inclined sheet, attenuated at its circumference, concave downward or undulated. (f) Cu mulo - stratus, a cloud in which the structure of the cumulus is mixed with that of the cirro-stratus or cirro-cumulus, the cumulus at the top and overhanging a flattish stratum or base. (g) Nimbus, cumulo -cirro- stratus, or Nimbus. rain- cloud, a dense cloud spreading out into a crown of cirrus and pa ing beneath into a shower. (h) Globo - cumu lus, a term applied by Millot to slightly elongated, hemispherical, grayish pockets appearing in the ma of rain clouds. 2. A semblance of a cloud, or something spread out like or having some effect of a cloud: commonly followed by a specification: as, a cloud of dust; a ship under a cloud of canvas (that is, a large spread of sails). The archers on both sides bent their bows, And the clouds of arrows flew. Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight (Child's Ballads, [V. 391). A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind. Milton , P. L., i. 340. 3. A clouded appearance; a dark area of color over a lighter material, or the reverse, as bloom 1058 cloudy ers are large and white, and the berries, which are of a very agreeable taste, are orange-yellow in color, and consist of a few large drupes. Also called knot berry and mountain bramble. Larva... beneath with opaque white clouds. Say. an epithet of the centaurs.] 5. Anything that obscures, darkens, threatens, or the like. IMG:content-0642.jpg:[blocks in formation] The bishop of London did cut down a noble cloud of trees at Fulham. Aubrey, Lord Bacon's Apophthegms. 7. A woman's head-wrap made of loosely knit wool. Cloud on a title. See title. - In cloudt, secretly; covertly. These, sir, are busine es ask to be carried With caution, and in cloud. B. Jonson, The Devil is an A , ii. 1. In the clouds. (a) Above the earth and practical things; high-flown; unreal; unsubstantial; illusory. (b) Absorbed in day-dreams; visionary; absent-minded; abstracted. (c) Out of ordinary comprehension; in the realms of fancy or non-reality. Though poets may of inspiration boast, Their rage, ill-govern'd, in the