umbrella

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ombrella, umbrella (“parasol, sunshade”), diminutive of ombra (“shade”) (or from a Late Latin or Medieval Latin umbrella), from Latin umbra (“shadow”).

Pronunciation

Noun

umbrella (plural umbrellas)

An umbrella (1)
  1. A cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun.
    Meronyms: runner, rib, canopy, stretcher
    Quick, grab that umbrella before you get rained on!
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
      There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
    • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 197:
      When the [lost property] office first opened, the most frequently lost items were umbrellas. Every white-collar professional carried one, but despite, or because of, that they were easily forgotten about. [...] In the 1930s, a quarter of a million umbrellas a year came into the office. Now it's more like 10,000.
  2. (figurative) Anything that provides protection.
    The fighters provide a defensive air umbrella over the battle group.
  3. (figurative) Something that covers a wide range of concepts, purposes, groups, etc.
    The test facility was established under the umbrella of the company's quality program.
  4. The main body of a jellyfish, excluding the tentacles.
    Jellyfish are composed of more than 90% water and most of their umbrella mass is made up of gelatinous material.
  5. (photography, television) An umbrella-shaped reflector with a white or silvery inner surface, used to diffuse a nearby light.
    • 2014, Michael Allen, Modern Wedding Photography, page 97:
      Using umbrellas for shooting a wedding party is ok, but not necessary.

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from umbrella (noun)

Descendants
  • → Igbo: mbalarị
  • → Welsh: ymbarél
  • → Yoruba: ọ̀bùrẹ́là
  • → Tok Pisin: ambrela

Translations
the main body of a jellyfish, excluding the tentacles
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

Further reading

Verb

umbrella (third-person singular simple present umbrellas, present participle umbrellaing, simple past and past participle umbrellaed)

  1. (transitive) To cover or protect, as if by an umbrella.
    • 1944, Emily Carr, “Life Loves Living”, in The House of All Sorts‎:
      Experts with saws and ladders came and lopped off the lower branches. This sent the tree's growth rushing violently to her head in a lush overhanging which umbrellaed the House of All Sorts.
    • 2008, Jonathan Kellerman, Bad Love: Alex Delaware 8:
      Huge pine and eucalyptus umbrellaed the grounds, airconditioning the morning.
  2. (intransitive) To form the dome shape of an open umbrella.
    • 2011, B. A. Rothwell, The Peaceful Queen, page 31:
      Bright yellow gowns fit them tightly and umbrellaed from their waist to just below the knees.
  3. (intransitive) To move like a jellyfish.
    • 1997, National Geographic Traveler, page 36:
      The light catches the filigreed tendrils and graceful motion of the jellies, their orange bodies umbrella-ing along like fairy parasols come to life.

Anagrams

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Sicilian umbrella.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /umˈbrɛl.la/

Noun

umbrella f (plural umbrelel, diminutive umbrellin or umbrellina)

  1. umbrella

Romansch

Noun

umbrella f (plural umbrellas)

  1. (Surmiran, Vallader) umbrella, parasol

Synonyms
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