*nebu*

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 ]

a. Clouded with indistinct color markings, as an animal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition of being nebulated; also, a clouded, or ill-defined, color mark. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. nébule. See nebula. ] A little cloud; a cloud. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

O light without nebule. Old Ballad. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) The act or process of nebulizing; atomization. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Nebula. ] To reduce (as a liquid) to a fine spray or vapor; to atomize. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An atomizer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Nebulous; cloudy. Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. nebulositas: cf. F. nébulosité ] 1. The state or quality of being nebulous; cloudiness; haziness; mistiness; nebulousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nebulosity . . . of the mother idiom. I. Disraeli. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) (a) The stuff of which a nebula is formed. (b) A nebula. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. nebulosus: cf. F. nébuleux. See Nebula. ] 1. Cloudy; hazy; misty. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) Of, pertaining to, or having the appearance of, a nebula; nebular; cloudlike. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Neb"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Neb"u*lous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖, a. [ F. nébulé. ] (Her.) Composed of successive short curves supposed to resemble a cloud; -- said of a heraldic line by which an ordinary or subordinary may be bounded. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Her. & Arch.) A line or a decoration composed of successive short curves or waves supposed to resemble a cloud. See Nébulé [ 1913 Webster ]