Cimmerian

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj Cimmerian intensely dark and gloomy as with perpetual darkness "the Cimmerian gloom...a darkness that could be felt"-Norman Douglas"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Cimmerian Pertaining to the Cimmerii, a fabulous people, said to have lived, in very ancient times, in profound and perpetual darkness.
    • Cimmerian Without any light; intensely dark. "In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • Cimmerian Pertaining to the Cimmerii, a mythical people mentioned by Homer as dwelling “beyond the ocean-stream, where the sun never shines, and perpetual darkness reigns.” Later writers sought to localize them, and accordingly placed them in Italy, near the Avernus, or in Spain, or in the Tauric Chersonese, and represented them as dwelling in perpetual darkness, so that the expression Cimmerian darkness (Cimmeriæ tenebræ) became proverbial. See 3.
    • Cimmerian Hence Very dark; obscure; gloomy.
    • Cimmerian Pertaining to the Cimmerii, a nomadic people of antiquity dwelling in the Crimea, near the sea of Azof, and in the country of the lower Volga, and perhaps, from some vague knowledge, the original of the mythical Cimmerii.
    • n Cimmerian One of the Cimmerii, in either the mythical or the historical application of that name.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • adj Cimmerian sim-ē′ri-an relating to the Cimmerii, a tribe fabled to have lived in perpetual darkness: extremely dark.
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. Cimmerius,

Usage

In literature:

I am not all Greek, but part Cimmerian, And scorn to break my word.
"Gycia" by Lewis Morris
This gulf of Cimmerian darkness was called by early navigators the Coal Sack.
"The Astronomy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost'" by Thomas Orchard
They plunder and hunt as far as the Sea of Azov and the Cimmerian Bosphorus, ravaging also Armenia and Media.
"The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus" by Ammianus Marcellinus
He glanced up the dark street towards the great mountains which loomed darkly in the Cimmerian gloom.
"The Tale of Timber Town" by Alfred Grace
In another instant she was gone, and the dim light which had filled the cell faded into Cimmerian blackness.
"The Gods of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The world is in a state of Cimmerian darkness regarding hens.
"The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 92, June, 1865" by Various
They cross the sea to the Cimmerian land; and Ulysses summons the shades from Tartarus.
"English Critical Essays" by Various
For the Cimmerian invasions described by Herodotus, see SCYTHIA; LYDIA; GYGES.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3" by Various
How the stunned Cimmerian regained his feet, not even he could have ever told.
"Red Nails" by Robert E. Howard
The bright vision of an hour ago had faded into Cimmerian gloom.
"A Traitor's Wooing" by Headon Hill
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In poetry:

But thou, by Asian Azof's shallow pool,
Where the Don pours its tributary mud,
Where nought but cold Cimmerian blasts have rule,
And Kalmuck's hungry Tartars fight for food;
"On The Death Of Alexander, Emperor Of The Russias, At Taganrok" by John Gardiner Calkins Brainard
Near the Cimmerian land, deep-caverned, lies
A hollow mount, the home of sluggish Sleep;
Where never ray from morn or evening skies
Can enter, but where blackening vapours creep,
And doubtful gloom unbroken sway doth keep.
"Cave of Somnus" by Digby Mackworth Dolben

In news:

They'll be celebrating Robert E Howard Days and the 80th birthday of Conan (originally Conan the Cimmerian).
dallasnews.com
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Related words