Nebular

2 definitions found

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

  Nebular \Neb"u*lar\, a.
     Of or pertaining to nebulae; of the nature of, or resembling,
     a nebula.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Nebular hypothesis}, an hypothesis to explain the process of


        formation of the stars and planets, presented in various
        forms by Kant, Herschel, Laplace, and others. As formed by
        Laplace, it supposed the matter of the solar system to
        have existed originally in the form of a vast, diffused,
        revolving nebula, which, gradually cooling and
        contracting, threw off, in obedience to mechanical and
        physical laws, succesive rings of matter, from which
        subsequently, by the same laws, were produced the several
        planets, satellites, and other bodies of the system. The
        phrase may indicate any hypothesis according to which the
        stars or the bodies of the solar system have been evolved
        from a widely diffused nebulous form of matter.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nebular
       adj 1: of or relating to or resembling a nebula; "the nebular
              hypothesis of the origin of the solar system"
       2: resembling a cloud [syn: {cloudlike}]