eclipse

See also: éclipse, éclipsé, and eclipsé

English

An eclipse of the Sun by Saturn, seen from the Cassini orbiter

Etymology

From Old French eclipse, from Latin eclīpsis, from Ancient Greek ἔκλειψις (ékleipsis, “eclipse”), from ἐκλείπω (ekleípō, “I abandon, go missing, vanish”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) and λείπω (leípō, “I leave behind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈklɪps/, /iˈklɪps/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: eclipse

Noun

eclipse (countable and uncountable, plural eclipses)

1. (astronomy) 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.

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, 1839, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, page 340,

     As in the soft and sweet eclipse, / When soul meets soul on lovers' lips.

   • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House is Built, Chapter VIII, Section ii

     Nor were the wool prospects much better. The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse.

   • Fredric Brown, The Geezenstacks

     Aubrey was rapturous. All her other playthings went into eclipse and the doings of the Geezenstacks occupied most of her waking thoughts.

Derived terms

• lunar eclipse
• solar eclipse
• total eclipse

Related terms

• ecliptic
• ecliptical

Translations

passage of a planetary object between others

• Ancient Greek: ἔκλειψις f (ékleipsis)
• Arabic: كُسُوف‎‎ m (kusūf), خُسُوف‎‎ m (ḵusūf)
• Armenian: խավարում (hy) (xavarum)
• Asturian: eclipse m
• Basque: eklipse
• Belarusian: зацьме́нне n (zacʹmjénnje)
• Bengali: অন্ধকার (bn) (andhakār)
• Bikol Central: kulop
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} fallaenn f, ^{(please verify)} gwaskadenn f
• Bulgarian: затъмнение (bg) n (zatǎmnenie)
• Catalan: eclipsi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (solar) 日食 (zh) (rìshí), (variant form) 日蝕 (zh), 日蚀 (zh) (rìshí), (lunar) 月食 (zh) (yuèshí), (variant form) 月蝕 (zh), 月蚀 (zh) (yuèshí)

• Crimean Tatar: tutuluv
• Czech: zatmění (cs) n
• Danish: formørkelse (da) c
• Dutch: verduistering (nl) f, eclips (nl) m
• Esperanto: eklipso
• Estonian: varjutus
• Finnish: pimennys
• French: éclipse (fr) f

  Old French: esclipsement m

• Galician: eclipse (gl) m
• Georgian: დაბნელება (dabneleba)
• German: Finsternis (de) f, Eklipse (de) f, (solar) Sonnenfinsternis (de), (lunar) Mondfinsternis (de), Verdunklung f
• Greek: εκλείψη f (ekleípsi)

  Ancient: ἔκλειψις f (ékleipsis)

• Hausa: hùsūfī̀ m
• Hebrew: ליקוי מאורות‎‎ (likui maorot)
• Hindi: ग्रहण (hi) m (grahaṇ)
• Hungarian: fogyatkozás (hu)
• Icelandic: myrkvi (is)
• Ido: eklipso (io)
• Indonesian: gerhana (id)
• Iranun: lahu'
• Irish: éiclips m, urú m
• Italian: eclisse (it) f, eclissi (it) f
• Japanese: 食 (ja) (shoku), 蝕 (ja) (shoku), (solar) 日食 (ja) (にっしょく, nisshoku), (lunar) 月食 (ja) (げっしょく, gesshoku)
• Kabuverdianu:

  ALUPEC/ALUPEK: eklipsi

  Badiu: eklipsi

• Konkani: ग्राण (grāṇa)

• Korean: 식현상 (sikhyeonsang)
• Latin: eclipsis m
• Latvian: aptumsums m
• Lithuanian: užtemimas m
• Malay: gerhana
• Maltese: eklissi m, kifsa f
• Maori: whenumitanga, rā kutia, whenumanga
• Marathi: ग्रहण m (grahaṇ)
• Nahuatl: cualo
• Navajo: ałneʼííʼáázh
• Nepali: ग्रहण (ne) (grahaṇa)
• Norman: êclyipse f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: formørkelse m

  Nynorsk: formørking f

• Old English: āsprungennes f
• Persian: گرفت‎‎ (fa) (gereft)
• Polish: zaćmienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: eclipse (pt) m
• Romanian: eclipsă (ro) f
• Russian: затме́ние (ru) n (zatménije)
• Sanskrit: उपराग (sa) m (uparāga)
• Santali: ᱜᱚᱦᱚᱱᱚ (gôhônô)
• Scottish Gaelic: dubhadh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: помрчина f

  Roman: pȍmrčina (sh) f

• Slovak: zatmenie n
• Slovene: mrk (sl) m
• Spanish: eclipse (es) m
• Swedish: förmörkelse (sv)
• Tagalog: laho (tl), paglalaho, duyog
• Tamil: கிரகணம் (ta) (kirakaṇam)
• Telugu: గ్రహణము (te) (grahaṇamu)
• Thai: คราส (th) (krâat), อุปราคา
• Turkish: tutulma (tr)
• Ukrainian: зате́мнення f (zatémnennja)
• Urdu: گرہن‎‎ m (grahan)
• Vietnamese: thiên thực
• Welsh: diffyg (cy) m, eclips m
• West Coast Bajau: kerau'
• Yucatec Maya: chiʼib

See also

• occultation
• syzygy

Verb

eclipse (third-person singular simple present eclipses, present participle eclipsing, simple past and past participle eclipsed)

1. (transitive) Of astronomical bodies, to cause an eclipse.

   The Moon eclipsed the Sun.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To overshadow; to be better or more noticeable than.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act 4, Scene 6, 1869, George Long Duyckinck (editor), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, page 502,

     For, till I see them here, by doubtful fear / My joy of liberty is half eclips'd.

   • 2005, Sean Campbell, Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for developers (page 56)

     The Util.System namespace eclipses the top-level System namespace.

   • 2007, Cincinnati Magazine (page 81)

     Everything about her year-old restaurant […] reflects her love of bringing people to the table for good, simple food that's not eclipsed by bells and whistles.

3. (Irish grammar) To undergo eclipsis.

Translations

To cause an eclipse

• Asturian: eclipsar
• Bulgarian: затъмнявам (bg) (zatǎmnjavam)
• Catalan: eclipsar (ca)
• Finnish: pimentää
• French: éclipser (fr)
• Galician: eclipsar

• Italian: eclissare (it)
• Portuguese: eclipsar (pt)
• Romanian: eclipsa (ro)
• Spanish: eclipsar (es)
• Swedish: förmörka (sv), skymma (sv), skugga (sv)

To overshadow

• Bulgarian: засенчвам (bg) (zasenčvam), помрачавам (bg) (pomračavam)
• Catalan: eclipsar (ca)
• Dutch: overtreffen (nl)
• Finnish: jättää varjoonsa
• French: éclipser (fr)
• Galician: eclipsar
• Italian: eclissare (it)

• Maori: whenumi
• Romanian: eclipsa (ro)
• Russian: затмевать (ru) impf (zatmevatʹ)
• Slovak: zatieniť
• Spanish: eclipsar (es)
• Swedish: överskugga (sv)

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Asturian

Etymology

From Latin eclīpsis.

Noun

eclipse m (plural eclipses)

1. eclipse

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Galician

Etymology

From Latin eclīpsis.

Noun

eclipse f (plural eclipses)

1. eclipse

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Latin

Noun

eclīpse

1. ablative singular of eclīpsis

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Old French

Alternative forms

• esclipse

Noun

eclipse m (oblique plural eclipses, nominative singular eclipses, nominative plural eclipse)

1. eclipse

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (eclipse)

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Portuguese

Noun

eclipse m (plural eclipses)

1. eclipse

Related terms

• eclipsar

Verb

eclipse

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of eclipsar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of eclipsar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of eclipsar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of eclipsar

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Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin eclīpsis.

Noun

eclipse m (plural eclipses)

1. eclipse
2. disappearance

Alternative forms

• eclipsi (obsolete)

Related terms

• eclipsar

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

eclipse

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of eclipsar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of eclipsar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of eclipsar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of eclipsar.

Further reading

• “eclipse” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.