late 14c., "cloudy, misty, hazy" (of the eye, fire-smoke, etc.), from Latin nebulosus "cloudy, misty, foggy, full of vapor," from nebula "mist, vapor" (from PIE root *nebh- "cloud"). The figurative sense of "hazy, vague, formless" is attested by 1831. Astronomical sense, in reference to stars or star clusters surrounded by luminous haze, is from 1670s. Related: Nebulously; nebulousness.

"instrument for reducing a liquid to spray" (for inhalation, etc.), 1865, agent noun from verb nebulize "to reduce to a mist or spray" (1865), from Latin nebula "mist" (see nebula) + -ize. Related: Nebulization.

1754, "cloudiness, haziness," from French nébulosité, from Late Latin nebulositatem (nominative nebulositas), from Latin nebulosus, from nebula "mist, vapor" (from PIE root *nebh- "cloud"). From 1761 as "faint, misty appearance surrounding certain stars."

U.S. territory organized 1854, admitted as a state 1867, from a native Siouan name for the Platte River, either Omaha ni braska or Oto ni brathge, both literally "water flat." The modern river name is from French rivière platte, which means "flat river." Related: Nebraskan.

Bug eaters, a term applied derisively to the inhabitants of Nebraska by travellers on account of the poverty-stricken appearance of many parts of the State. If one living there were to refuse to eat bugs, he would, like Polonius, soon be "not where he eats but where he is eaten." [Walsh, 1892]