becloud
be-cloud / bĭ-kloud
verb 1. to obscure, darken or cover with or as with a cloud From their height they could see it sweeping far across the land, not high in the air, but beclouding the prairie like a fog. From "Winning the Wilderness" by Margaret Hill McCarter, 1860 – 1938 2. to confuse; to befuddle We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read. Abraham Lincoln, 1809 - 1865 etymology A combination of the English prefix be- and the English verb cloud. The prefix comes from the Anglo-Saxon preposition be/bi, which has a variety of meanings: about, around, completely, intensely; cause, make happen, provide with; at, on, to, for. The verb cloud started out as a noun through Middle English from the Anglo-Saxon noun clud (rocky mass, hill), which resembled the shape of cumulus formations of water vapor in the sky. Later, cloud became used as a verb meaning to become cloudy, cover or hide with clouds, obscure, make unclear, make doubtful. Thank you to Allen Ward for providing this etymology.