What does the word "cegante" mean?

Question

Un sol cegante de mediodía llanero centellea en las aguas amarillas del Arauca y sobre los árboles que pueblan sus márgenes.

I have searched all of the dictionaries that I could find on the internet. I am still out of luck.

It is from Doña Bárbara, a great work of literature.

Answer 1

Hola:

It is from "cegar", cegante = blinding...

cegar. (Del lat. caec?re). 1. tr. Quitar la vista a alguien. 2. tr. Dicho de una luz repentina e intensa: Dejar momentáneamente ciego a alguien. U. t. c. prnl. 3. tr. Turbar la razón, ofuscar el entendimiento. U. t. c. intr. 4. tr. Cerrar, macizar algo que antes estaba hueco o abierto. Cegar una puerta, un pozo, una cañería. U. t. c. prnl. 5. tr. Impedir, obstaculizar con broza, piedras u otros estorbos el tránsito por un conducto, una vereda u otro paso estrecho. 6. tr. Disminuir el calado de un canal, puerto o rada por los acarreos de arenas, tierra o limo, hasta quedar impracticable para la navegación. 7. intr. Perder enteramente la vista. ¶ MORF. conjug. c. acertar. Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

Hope this helps.

Ohhh... Thank you very much! - NikkiLR, Aug 24, 2010

De nada Poetisa... - LuisaGomezBartle, Aug 24, 2010

Answer 2

It is a Portuguese word that I've never seen in Spanish. It comes from "cegar" (to blind), and we normally say "cegador" (blinding) instead.

P.S. Luisa Gómez is really fast! (and doesn't make the same mistake twice!)

Thank you :) ... I saw that it was a Portuguese word as well... I was a bit confused. :S - NikkiLR, Aug 24, 2010

I am an avid learner, ha ha ha. - LuisaGomezBartle, Aug 24, 2010

Answer 3

I am wondering now why it isn't in the dictionaries... When I search it, I get a lot of results. I am searching in "Yahoo! México".

"30.700 resultados para cegante:"

Answer 4

@la poetisa: My "YAHOO MEXICO" only finds 1410 pages, whereas it finds 163000 for cegador. That means that less than 1% use "cegante", a word that I cannot find in many literary and journalist databases.

Mine says "186.000 resultados para cegador:" - NikkiLR, Aug 24, 2010

But still, you would think that it would be in a dictionary if it was being used... even if not by many. - NikkiLR, Aug 24, 2010