Nimbs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Having a light or delicate build; characterized by quick, graceful movements; relating to or resembling a cloud or a ring of light around a luminous body
2. Describing a physique or form that is slender and agile; displaying rapid and smooth motion; pertaining to an atmospheric phenomenon involving glowing or cloud-like shapes
3. Marked by a slight and agile structure; exhibiting swift and elegant motion; connected to a halo or a luminous cloud often seen around celestial objects

Etymology: "Nimbs" is the plural of "nimb," which came into English from Latin "nimbus," meaning a cloud or rain cloud. The Latin word carried the sense of a dark storm cloud, and it is the same root that gave English the related "nimbus," so the two forms are doublets, two versions of one word that entered the language by different routes. The plural "nimbs" is simply the regular English plural of "nimb," used for the rings or halos of light around luminous bodies, the sense that grew from the cloud meaning. Like "nimbus," "nimb" passed from the cloud itself to the glowing ring around a figure or celestial object, so the same image of a bright shape set against a surrounding haze carried over into both forms.

Synonyms: nimbostratus clouds, rain clouds, storm clouds

Antonyms: clear sky