cloud English · revision 5016

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 893|origins=ang clūd}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /klaʊd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|cloude]], [[inh|ang|clūd|t=mass of rock, hill]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) probably related to [[clod]] and [[clot]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) Barnhart and MWU relate it to Greek gloutós “buttock”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A mass of rock, a hill: about 893 in the OED and Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) This sense was last recorded in Middle English about 1475.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The modern sense, a visible mass of condensed vapour in the sky, appears about 1300 in southern texts, a metaphor from the likeness of cumulus clouds to rock masses.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) The usual Old English word for a cloud was weolcan, the source of [[welkin]], and in Middle English skie also meant “cloud”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) A cloud-like mass of smoke or dust is from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) Figuratively, something that darkens or threatens, it is from about 1300, with ''under a cloud'' from about 1500.^(Etymonline) ''In the clouds'', removed from reality, is from the 1640s.^(Etymonline) The verb, to darken with clouds, is from the early 15th century (before 1420 in Barnhart),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) to obscure from 1513,^(OED 1989) and to grow cloudy from 1562.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) ''On cloud nine'' is from the mid-20th century, perhaps from the numbering of cloud types.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 893 – a mass of rock, hill.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – a cloud in the sky.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – a mass of smoke or dust.^(Etymonline)

+ * early 15th century – verb, to darken.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1500 – ''under a cloud''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1562 – to become cloudy.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1640s – ''in the clouds''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A visible mass of water droplets or ice crystals floating in the sky.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A mass of smoke, dust or steam in the air.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A large number of things moving together, as insects.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something that causes gloom or suspicion.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover or become covered with clouds.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To make something unclear or confused: ''cloud one's judgment''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To make gloomy or troubled.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cloudless]]

+ * [[cloudlike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[clod]]

+ * [[clot]]

+ * [[welkin]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}