umbran.1
/ˈʌmbrə/, U.S. /ˈəmbrə/ 1.
a. The shade of a deceased person; a phantom or ghost. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > ghost or phantom > [noun]
soulOE
huea1000
ghostOE
fantasyc1325
spiritc1350
phantomc1384
phantasmc1430
haunterc1440
shadowa1464
appearance1488
wraith1513
hag1538
spoorn1584
vizarda1591
life-in-death1593
phantasma1598
umbra1601
larve1603
spectre1605
spectrum1611
apparitiona1616
shadea1616
shapea1616
showa1616
idolum1619
larva1651
white hat?1693
zumbi1704
jumbie1764
duppy1774
waff1777
zombie1788
Wild Huntsman1796
spook1801
ghostie1810
hantua1811
preta1811
bodach1814
revenant1823
death-fetch1826
sowlth1829
haunt1843
night-bat1847
spectrality1850
thivish1852
beastie1867
ghost soul1869
barrow-wight1891
resurrect1892
waft1897
churel1901
comeback1908
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love Praeludium sig. A4v The Vmbræ, or Ghosts of some three or foure Playes, departed a dozen yeares since. View more context for this quotation
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. iii. 78 Such kind of Tones as these the Umbræ use, when they call upon Charon for a Boat.
1654 E. Wolley tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Curia Politiæ Pref. I have not troubled their famous umbra's, whom an innocent kind of Magick hath so often summoned from their Royal Tombs.
1878 W. Besant & J. Rice By Celia's Arbour I. xi. 159 The faint and dimly-seen ghost of a possible repentance,..a spectral umbra pointing heavenward.
1883 Sat. Rev. 21 Apr. 486/1 Had Lord Beaconsfield ever indulged in such rashness, his umbra might point out..the disaster and the disgrace which have followed on their neglect of the warning.
b. (See quot. a1652.)
ΚΠ
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) v. x. 163 The Spirituall Vehicle of the soul,..a kind of Umbra or Aereal Mantle in which the Soul wraps her self.
2.
a. A mere shadow of something. In quot. 1635 figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance > something lacking substance > mere appearance or image of something
shadow?c1225
shade1297
phantomc1384
moonshine1468
fume1531
show1547
eggs in moonshine?1558
smoke1559
sign1597
ghost1613
umbra1635
parhelion1636
bogle1793
simulacrum1805
phantasmagoria1821
spectre1849
1635 E. Rainbow Labour 33 The pride of those..who are their owne umbra's, the servants and shadowes of their owne reflected shadowes.
b. An uninvited guest accompanying one who is invited.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > hospitality > guest > [noun] > uninvited
umbra1696
crasher1924
gatecrasher1927
ligger1977
1696 S. Sewall Diary 7 May (1973) I. 349 And let my dear Wife and all my children, partake in this priviledge, and that not as Umbras, but on their own account.
1716 Hesperi-neso-graphia iii. 9 Most of the Guests their Umbra's brought And Sauce that never Money bought.
1809 R. Cumberland John de Lancaster II. 71 Mr. David Owen and his umbra in the bottle green were missing.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii I. i. iii. 48 The sixth banqueter, who was the umbra of Clodius,..muttered also ‘Ædepol’.
3. Shade; shadow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > intercepting or cutting off of light > [noun] > casting of a shadow > overshadowing > shadow or shade
shadea1000
shadowa1375
umber1382
umbrage1426
umbrage1541
shrouda1586
umbracle1609
umbra1638
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 5 To all in the temperate Zone, in the Sunnes Meridian their shadowes cast North, having past the Zenith, the shade or umbra becomes contrary.
1856 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters IV. 74 If any of these wayward umbræ are faithfully remembered and set down by the painter, they nearly always have an unaccountable look.
4. Astronomy.
a. The shadow cast by the earth or moon as visible in an eclipse; now spec. that portion in which the shadow is complete, as contrasted with the penumbra.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > sunlight > [noun] > eclipse > umbra
umbra1679
1679 J. Moxon Math. made Easie 163 Umbra, a shadow, a word oft used in the obscuration [sic] of Eclipses.
1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. xxxv. 344 The cones of the umbra and penumbra..formed by lines drawn from the Sun and touching the Earth's surface.
1833 J. F. W. Herschel Astronomy vi. 225 Owing to the great size of the earth, the cone of its umbra always projects far beyond the moon.
1868 J. N. Lockyer Elem. Lessons Astron. §237 If the Sun were a point of light merely, the shadow would be all umbra.
b. In sun-spots: (see quots.).The earlier nucleus and umbra correspond respectively to the modern umbra and penumbra.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > sun > solar activity > [noun] > mark on sun > sunspot > light part of
penumbra1763
umbra1788
the world > the universe > sun > solar activity > [noun] > mark on sun > sunspot > dark part of
umbra1868
1788 Encycl. Brit. II. 434/2 The increase of a spot is gradual, the breadth of the nucleus and umbra dilating at the same time.
1788 Encycl. Brit. II. 434/2 Small umbræ are often seen without nuclei.
1860 D. Olmsted Mech. Heavens x. 103 A solar spot usually consists of two parts, the nucleus and the umbra... The umbra is a wide margin, of lighter shade, and is often of greater extent than the nucleus.
1868 W. Lockyer & J. N. Lockyer tr. A. Guillemin Heavens (ed. 3) 32 The spots consist almost invariably of one or several dark portions called umbræ, which seem black when compared with the luminous parts of the disk.
1878 S. Newcomb Pop. Astron. iii. ii. 245 The shaded penumbra seems to form the sides of the cavity, while the umbra is the invisible bottom.
5. Algebra. A symbol which requires to be paired with another in order to denote a quantity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > [noun] > collection or sequence of > requiring to be paired
umbra1851
shadow1898
1851 J. J. Sylvester in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 1 296 Each quantity is now represented by two letters; the letters themselves, taken separately, being symbols neither of quantity nor of operation, but mere umbræ or ideal elements of quantitative symbols.
1855 W. J. M. Rankine Misc. Sci. Papers (1881) 139 The tasinomic coefficients for oblique axes may be regarded as compounded of umbræ.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
umbran.2
/ˈʌmbrə/, U.S. /ˈəmbrə/ rare.
1. The grayling; = umber n.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > family Salmonidae (salmon) > [noun] > genus Thymallus > member of (grayling)
graylingc1450
umber1496
umbra1610
esch1659
thyme fish1756
bluefish1807
blanket fish1870
Michigan grayling1879
pink1901
shutt1939
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 627 Both these rivers are full of Salmons and Trouts, but Wy of the twaine is the better, affording the best kind of them which they call Vmbras.
1708 J. Kersey Dict. Anglo-Britannicum Umbra,..the Vmber, a sort of Fish.
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 262 It is a very swift swimmer, and disappears like the transient passage of a shadow, from whence we believe is derived the name of Umbra.
2. A sciænoid fish of the genus Umbrina, esp. the Mediterranean species U. cirrosa.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Sciaenidae (drums) > [noun] > member of genus Umbrina
umbrina1607
umbra1753
bluefin1814
baardman1853
roncador1867
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (at cited word).
1755 Dict. Arts & Sci. Sciæna,..this genus comprehends the umbra and the umbrino.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 43 A sandy bottom, though not absolutely bad for flat fish, suits the pelagians..best; such as, e.g. auratas, the dentex, and Punic and indigenous umbras.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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