Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OB-SCURE-NESS, or OB-SCU'RI-TY, n. [L. obscuritas.]

1. Darkness; want of light. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. Isa. lix.
2. A state of retirement from the world; a state of being unnoticed; privacy. You are not for obscurity designed. Dryden.
3. Darkness of meaning; unintelligibleness; as, the obscurity of writings or of a particular passage.
4. Illegibleness; as, the obscurity of letters or of an inscription.
5. A state of being unknown to fame; humble condition; as, the obscurity of birth or parentage.