— nimbused , adj.
/nim"beuhs/ , n. , pl. nimbi /-buy/ , nimbuses .
1. Class. Myth. a shining cloud sometimes surrounding a deity when on earth.
2. a cloud, aura, atmosphere, etc., surrounding a person or thing: The candidate was encompassed with a nimbus of fame.
3. halo (def. 1).
4. the type of dense clouds or cloud mass with ragged edges, that yields rain or snow; a rain cloud.
5. ( cap. ) U.S. Aerospace. one of a series of polar-orbiting meteorological and environmental research satellites, the last of which Nimbus 7, launched 1978, was the first satellite designed to monitor atmospheric pollutants.
[ 1610-20; nebula and Gk nephéle, néphos cloud ]