nūbes — Lewis & Short
nūbes, is, f. (ante-class. collat. form, nūbis, is, m.:
I
nubis ater,Plaut. Merc. 5 2, 38: nubs for nubes, Liv. Andron. ap. Serv. Verg. A. 10, 636; cf. Aus. Idyll. de Monosyll. Hist. 12, 4) [Sanscr. nabhas, vapor, cloud; Gr. ne/fos, nefe/lh; Lat. nubilus, nebula; cf. nimbus, nubo], a cloud.
I Lit.:
aër concretus in nubes cogitur,Cic. N. D. 2, 39, 101: id. Ac. 2, 22, 70:
atra nubes Condidit lunam,Hor. C. 2, 16, 2:
candida,Vulg. Apoc. 14, 14:
aestivis effusus nubibus imber,Verg. G. 4, 312; Ov. M. 8, 339:
venti nubes abigunt,Plin. 2, 47, 48, § 126:
nube deprendere volucrem jaculis,to bring down a bird from the sky, Sil. 16, 566:
usque ad nubes,up to heaven, Vulg. Psa. 35, 6; id. Jer. 51, 9.— Poet.:
Sabaeae nubes,the smoke of frankincense, Stat. S. 4, 8, 2.—
B Transf.
1 A cloud, a dark spot:
sudare nubemque discutere,i. e. by the breath, Plin. 33, 8, 44, § 127:
crystalla infestantur plurimis vitiis, maculosā nube, etc.,id. 37, 2, 10, § 28.—
2 A cloud, thick multitude, dense mass, swarm:
locustarum tantae nubes,Liv. 42, 10, 7:
Pomptinum velut nubibus locustarum coopertum,id. 42, 2, 4:
levium telorum,id. 38, 26:
obruti velut nube jaculorum a Balearibus conjectā,id. 21, 55, 6:
peditum equitumque,id. 35, 49:
(volucrum),Verg. A. 12, 254:
nigro glomeratur pulvere nubes,id. ib. 9, 33:
muscarum,Plin. 29, 6, 34, § 106:
pulveris,Curt. 4, 15, 32:
(volucrum) nubem sonoram,Juv. 13, 167:
farrea nubes, i. e. porrigo capitis, furfures,Ser. Samm. 3, 34:
nubes testium,Vulg. Hebr. 12, 1.—
II Trop.
A A cloud, for something unreal or unsubstantial, a phantom:
nubes et inania captare,Hor. A. P. 230.—
B Cloudiness, of a gloomy countenance, of sleep, of drunkenness, of blindness (poet.):
deme supercilio nubem,Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 94; Sil. 8, 612:
meri,Val. Fl. 3, 65:
soporis,Stat. Achill. 1, 646:
mortis,id. S. 4, 6, 72:
frontis opacae,id. Th. 4, 512.—
C A gloomy or mournful condition:
pars vitae tristi cetera nube vacet,Ov. Tr. 5, 5, 22:
omni detersus pectora nube,Stat. S. 1, 3, 109.—
D A veil, obscurity, concealment:
fraudibus obice nubem,Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 62.—
E A cloud, storm-cloud, i. e. a threatening appearance or approach of misfortune, war:
nubem belli, dum detonet omnis, Sustinet,Verg. A. 10, 809:
consurgens in Italiā nubes trucis et cruenti belli,Just. 29, 3.