obnubilation meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

obnubilation

noun

UK /ɒbnjuːbɪˈleɪʃən/

Etymology Borrowed from Late Latin obnūbilātiō. Compare brain fog as a similar metaphor. By surface analysis, obnubilate + -ion.

The action of darkening or fact of being darkened, as with a cloud; obscuration.

1610, John Healey (tr.), Sᵗ. Auguſtine, of the Citie of God: with the learned Comments of Io. Lod. Vives, bk 3, ch. 15, pp. 127–8, note e
Let then others glory in their triumphs, and trophies, in their obnubilation of bodies coruscant, that they have brought fear upon Champions, forced contributions from the Herculesses of manhood.1653, Edward Waterhouse, An humble apologie for learning and learned men, page 175:

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Fog and sunshine, obnubilation and light.1819, Felix MacDonogh, The Hermit in London, II, p. 133:
Let no dark // Obnubilations of salesmen dim the day // Lit by your contract, which is clear, as though it were // A lamp.1951, Abraham Moses Klein (aut.), E.A. Popham and Z. Pollock (eds.), The Second Scroll (2000), gloss dalid (ר), p. 95
In 1931 these and other obnubilations…were over the horizon and he gave a set of proofs of The Colonel’s Daughter to Douglas.1989, Charles Doyle, Richard Aldington: A Biography, ch. 11, p. 146:

Medicine, Sciences Obscuration or clouding of the mind or faculties.

1753 Dec. 17th, John Rutty, A Spiritual Diary and Soliloquies in The Life of Samuel Johnſon, LL.D. (1791), aut. James Boswell, vol. II, “1777. Ætat. 68.”, p. 155
Dimness or obnubilation of sight.1803, Thomas Beddoes, Hygëia III, essay ix, p. 198

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At the instant of the accident the patient lost consciousness for several hours, and afterwards lay for several days in a state of torpor or obnubilation.1888 May, G.S. Hall (ed.), The American Journal of Psychology I, № 3, “Ueber die therapeutische Verwendung der Hypnose by Richard Schulz” (review), p. 519
Obnubilaʹtion…A dazzling of the eyes without giddiness, so that objects seem to be seen through a cloud, as in threatened fainting.1892, H. Power and L.W. Sedgwick, The New Sydenham Society’s Lexicon of Medicine and the Allied Sciences IV, s.v. “Obnubilaʹtion”
Obnubilations, comas and stupors, each with its clinical and electroencephalographic characteristics.1960 Jun. 27th–29th, Henri Fischgold and Betty A. Schwartz, “A clinical, electroencephalographic and polygraphic study of sleep in the human adult” in the Ciba Foundation Symposium on “The Nature of Sleep”, eds. G.E.W. Wolstenholme and M. O’Connor, p. 235
After 2 weeks of treatment, symptoms of dyspnea, morning headaches, and morning obnubilation improved significantly…in both groups of patients after NIPPV but not with oxygen.1997 Jul., Juan F. Masa et al., “Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation and Not Oxygen May Prevent Overt Ventilatory Failure in Patients With Chest Wall Diseases” in Chest CXII, № 1, Abstract, p. 207

Literally, Rare A veiling with or concealment in clouds.

Homer, the father of the Poets, by these obnubilations, frequently rescues his heroes from the most imminent danger. Thus, in the third book of The Iliad, when Paris, defeated by Menelaus, is on the point of losing his life, Venus snatches him away in a fog: — // “Then, as once more he lifts the deadly dart, // In thirst of vengeance, at his rival’s heart, // The Queen of Love her fav’rite champion shrouds // (For Gods can all things) in a veil of clouds.”1814 Jan. 15th, “Foggiana” in The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1814 (1815), p. 23

Something that obscures or causes confoundment; an obfuscation.

1999, Balachandra Rajan, Under Western Eyes: India from Milton to Macaulay, Afterword, p. 206
The problem of error is crucial, for as Watt interrogates the foundations of rational inquiry, the distinctions between intended errors, authorial errors, mistakes introduced by publishers, changes of intention and other obnubilations loom all the larger.2009, Chris J. Ackerley, Watt, page Preface:

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Philosophy was wreathed in Fichtean obnubilations.2016, Roger Paulin, The Life of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Cosmopolitan of Art and Poetry, § 2.1.2, p. 79: