Pronunciation: (nim'bus), [key]
—pl. -biPronunciation: (-bī), [key] -bus•es.
1. Class. Myth.a shining cloud sometimes surrounding a deity when on earth.
2. a cloud, aura, atmosphere, etc., surrounding a person or thing: The candidate was encompassed with a nimbus of fame.
3. halo (def. 1).
4. the type of dense clouds or cloud mass with ragged edges, that yields rain or snow; a rain cloud.
5. (cap.) U.S. Aerospace.one of a series of polar-orbiting meteorological and environmental research satellites, the last of which Nimbus 7, launched 1978, was the first satellite designed to monitor atmospheric pollutants.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.