Definition of "eclipse" in English

noun

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. (ornithology) 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.

verb

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

   • The Moon eclipsed the Sun.

2. (transitive, figurative) To overshadow; to be better or more noticeable than.

3. (Irish grammar) To undergo eclipsis.