1. A shade, screen, or guard, carried in the hand for sheltering the person from the rays of the sun, or from rain or snow. It is formed of silk, cotton, or other fabric, extended on strips of whalebone, steel, or other elastic material, inserted, or fastened to, a rod or stick by means of pivots or hinges, in such a way as to allow of being opened and closed with ease. See Parasol. "Underneath the umbrella's oily shed." (Gay)
<zoology> Umbrella ant, a South American bird (Cephalopterus ornatus) of the family Cotingidae. It is black, with a large handsome crest consisting of a mass of soft, glossy blue feathers curved outward at the tips. It also has a cervical plume consisting of a long, cylindrical dermal process covered with soft hairy feathers. Called also dragoon bird.
<botany> Umbrella leaf, a kind of magnolia (M. Umbrella) with the large leaves arranged in umbrellalike clusters at the ends of the branches. It is a native of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. Other plants in various countries are called by this name, especially a kind of screw pine (Pandanus odoratissimus).
Origin: It. Umbrella, fr. Ombra a shade, L. Umbra; cf. L. Umbella a sunshade, a parasol. Cf. Umbel, Umbrage.
(01 Mar 1998)
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