umbra: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Word of the Day for Friday, June 10, 2011 umbra \UHM-bruh\, noun: 1. The invariable or characteristic accompaniment or companion of a person or thing. 2. Shade; shadow. 3. In astronomy, the complete shadow of an opaque body, as a planet, where the direct light from the source of illumination is completely cut off. 4. A phantom or shadowy apparition, as of someone or something not physically present; ghost; spectral image. She leaned over me, dark and mother-warm, and I could hardly breathe in her umbra of cigarettes and gin. -- Jonathan Strahan, Eidolon The umbra - shade, shadow, uninvited guest - is invited in; as a dream, the guest becomes host to a sensuous pleasure that is all the more real for being an imitation, and all the more an artifice for being imaginal, "only" a dream. -- Patricia Cox Miller, Dreams in Late Antiquity: Studies in the Imagination of a Culture Umbra is borrowed from the same word in Latin, meaning "shadow." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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