cloud: [OE] In Old English the word for ‘cloud’ was weolcen (whence modern English welkin, a poetical term for ‘sky’), which is related to German wolke ‘cloud’. At that time Old English clūd, the ancestor of cloud, meant ‘mass of rock, hill’ (it is probably related to clod). As applied to ‘clouds’, presumably from a supposed resemblance between cumulus clouds and lumps of earth or rock, it dates from the 13th century. => clod
cloud (n.)
Old English clud "mass of rock, hill," related to clod. Metaphoric extension to "raincloud, mass of evaporated water in the sky" is attested by c. 1200 based on similarity of cumulus clouds and rock masses. The usual Old English word for "cloud" was weolcan. In Middle English, skie also originally meant "cloud."
The four fundamental types of cloud classification (cirrus, cumulus, stratus, nimbus) were proposed by British amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772-1864) in 1802. Figuratively, as something that casts a shadow, from early 15c.; hence under a cloud (c. 1500). In the clouds "removed from earthly things; obscure, fanciful, unreal" is from 1640s. Cloud-compeller translates (poetically) Greek nephelegereta, a Homeric epithet of Zeus.
cloud (v.)
early 15c., "overspread with clouds, cover, darken," from cloud (n.). From 1510s as "to render dim or obscure;" 1590s as "to overspread with gloom." Intransitive sense of "become cloudy" is from 1560s. Related: Clouded; clouding.
双语例句
1. The powdery dust rose in a cloud around him.
一团粉尘在他周围扬起。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The American edition of "Cloud Street" is already in its third printing.
美国版的《云街》已经是第三次印刷了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. A sudden break in the cloud allowed rescuers to spot Michael Benson.
天气的突然放晴帮助救援人员找到了迈克尔·本森。
来自柯林斯例句
4. I saw Sean's face cloud over at this blatant lie.
