Nebula

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nebula \Neb"u*la\ (n[e^]b"[-u]*l[.a]), n.; pl. {Nebulae}
     (n[e^]b"[-u]*l[=e]). [L., mist, cloud; akin to Gr. nefe`lh,
     ne`fos, cloud, mist, G. nebel mist, OHG. nebul, D. nevel,
     Skr. nabhas cloud, mist. Cf. {Nebule}.]
     1. (Astron.) A faint, cloudlike, self-luminous mass of matter
        situated beyond the solar system among the stars. The term


        was originally applied to any diffuse luminous region.
        Now, technically, it is applied to interstellar clouds of
        dust and gases ({diffuse nebula}). However distant
        galaxies and very distant star clusters often appear like
        them in the telescope, such as the {spiral nebula} in
        Andromeda, known now to be a distant galaxy.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     2. (Med.)
        (a) A white spot or a slight opacity of the cornea.
        (b) A cloudy appearance in the urine. [Obs.]
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nebula
       n 1: a medicinal liquid preparation intended for use in an
            atomizer
       2: cloudiness of the urine
       3: an immense cloud of gas (mainly hydrogen) and dust in
          interstellar space
       4: (pathology) a faint cloudy spot on the cornea
       [also: {nebulae} (pl)]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  19 Moby Thesaurus words for "nebula":
     Black Magellanic Cloud, Crab Nebula, Gegenschein,
     bright diffuse nebula, coalsack, counterglow, dark cloud,
     dark nebula, diffuse nebula, dust cloud, gaseous nebula,
     nebula of Lyra, nebular hypothesis, nebulosity, nebulous stars,
     planetary nebula, ring nebula, the Coalsack, zodiacal light
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Nebula
       
          An early business-oriented language from {ICL} for the
          {Ferranti Orion} computer.
       
          ["NEBULA - A Programming Language for Data Processing", T.G.
          Braunholtz et al, Computer J 4(3):197-201 (1961)].
       
          (1994-11-29)