obnubilate

obnubilate

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin obnūbilātus, perfect passive participle of obnūbilō (“cover with clouds or fog”), from ob- +‎ nūbilō (“be cloudy”), from nūbēs (“cloud”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒbˈnjuːbɪlət/

Adjective

obnubilate (comparative more obnubilate, superlative most obnubilate)

1. (obsolete) Covered or darkened as with a cloud; overclouded; obscured.
   • 1575, John Rolland (aut.), W. Gregor (ed.), Ane Treatise callit the Court of Venvs (1884), bk 1, ll. 244–251 (p. 23):

     [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.

   • 1610, John Healey (tr.), S^t. Auguſtine, of the Citie of God, bk 19, ch. 4, p. 758:

     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?

   • 1630, John Taylor, All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-poet, epigram 36, p. 266/1:

     Mans vnderstanding’s so obnubilate, // That when thereon I doe excogitate, // Intrinsicall and querimonious paines // Doe puluerise the concaue of my braines.

   • 1860, George William Bagby (aut., ed.), “Editor’s Table” in The Southern Literary Messenger XXXI (N.S. X), p. 74:

     Here is the sample of [Whitman’s] obnubilate, incoherent, convulsive flub-drub.

Translations

covered or darkened as with a cloud, overclouded, obscured

References

• “† Obnu·bilate, ppl. a.” in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1st edition), volume VII (O, P; 1909), § i (O, ed. James Augustus Henry Murray), page 25/3
• “† obnubilate, adj.” in the Oxford English Dictionary (3rd edition, March 2004)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin obnūbilō, as above.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒbˈnjuːbɪleɪt/

Verb

obnubilate (third-person singular simple present obnubilates, present participle obnubilating, simple past and past participle obnubilated)

1. (obsolete) To obscure, to shadow.
   • 1832, “Miscellaneous”, in Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, volume IV, page 143:

     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.

2. To make cloudy.

Derived terms

• obnubilated (adjective)

References

• “Obnubilate, v.” in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1st edition), volume VII (O, P; 1909), § i (O, ed. James Augustus Henry Murray), page 25/3
• “obnubilate, v.” in the Oxford English Dictionary (3rd edition, March 2004)

Related terms

• obnubilation
• obnubilous

---

Italian

Verb

obnubilate

1. inflection of obnubilare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

obnubilate f pl

1. feminine plural of obnubilato