the total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another, or the time when this happens
passage into the shadow of a celestial body: compare occultation, transit1
a falling into obscurity or decay; a decline
His departure was the eclipse of a genius — Lord Blake
the state of being in eclipse plumage
a mallard in eclipse
[Middle English via Old French and Latin from Greek ekleipsis, from ekleipein to omit, fail, suffer eclipse, from ex out + leipein to leave]