Dictionary

obnubilate en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɒbˈnjuːbɪlət/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obnūbilātus, perfect passive participle of obnūbilō (“to cover with clouds or fog”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ob- + nūbilō (“be cloudy”), from nūbēs (“cloud”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”). By surface analysis, ob- + Latin nubil- + -ate.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Covered or darkened as with a cloud; overclouded; obscured.
   • [B]ot sen I the to hir cure vassaill: [To mak the r]efrane, my power laikis haill. [For] in hir net thow art obnubilate: [Gif] thow conuert, and tak my trew counsall […]eng or lust thow suld neuer assaill. […]waill hart fra hir to sequestrate, […] time sa far as is fustrate: […]oir repent, and thow sall ȝit preuaill. 1575, John Rolland, edited by W. Gregor, Ane Treatise callit the Court of Venvs, published 1884, bk 1, ll. 244-251 (p. 23):
   • Mans vnderstanding’s so obnubilate, That when thereon I doe excogitate, Intrinsicall and querimonious paines Doe puluerise the concaue of my braines. 1630, All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-poet, John Taylor, epigram 36, p. 266/1:
   • And that ſame ὁρμὴ, that violent motion vnto action…is it not that that effecteth thoſe ſtrange and horrible acts of madneſſe when the reaſon & ſence are both beſotted and obnubilate? 1610, John Healey, transl., St. Auguſtine, of the Citie of God, bk 19, ch. 4, p. 758:
   • Here is the sample of [Whitman’s] obnubilate, incoherent, convulsive flub-drub. 1860, George William Bagby (aut., ed.), “Editor’s Table” in The Southern Literary Messenger XXXI (N.S. X), p. 74

Forms

obnubilate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɒbˈnjuːbɪleɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obnūbilātus, perfect passive participle of obnūbilō (“to cover with clouds or fog”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ob- + nūbilō (“be cloudy”), from nūbēs (“cloud”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”). By surface analysis, ob- + Latin nubil- + -ate.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) To obscure, to shadow.
   • There is here fine criticism, classic wit, poetic dreaming, and some grains of sound doctrine, but so obnubilated with the fumes of German metaphysics, that we become giddy. 1832, “Miscellaneous”, in Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, volume IV, page 143:
2. To make cloudy.

Forms

Relateds

obnubilous · obnubilation