eclipses

Noun

eclipse (countable and uncountable, plural eclipses)

1. An alignment of astronomical objects whereby one object comes between the observer (or notional observer) and another object, thus obscuring the latter.
2. Especially, an alignment whereby a planetary object (for example, the Moon) comes between the Sun and another planetary object (for example, the Earth), resulting in a shadow being cast by the middle planetary object onto the other planetary object.
3. A seasonal state of plumage in some birds, notably ducks, adopted temporarily after the breeding season and characterised by a dull and scruffy appearance.
4. Obscurity, decline, downfall.
   • a. 1618, Walter Raleigh, quoted in Eclipse, entry in 1805, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Volume 2, unnumbered page,
     All the posterity of our first parents suffered a perpetual eclipse of spiritual life.

See all 7 meanings of eclipse

Noun

eclipsis (countable and uncountable, plural eclipses)

1. (obsolete) An omission of words needed to fully express the sense of a phrase.
2. A line or dash used to show that text has been omitted.
3. (Irish, Manx grammar) A mutation of the initial sound of a word by which voiceless sounds become voiced, voiced stops become nasal consonants, and vowels acquire a prothetic nasal consonant: see Appendix:Irish mutations#Eclipsis.

   Synonyms:

   nasalization