This noun describes mist or fog, with classical Greek using it especially for the mist that covers dying eyes or blinds someone through divine action. Homer uses it for the darkness falling over eyes in death or when a god removes someone's ability to see. In the New Testament's two occurrences, it carries this sense of blinding mist: the magician Elymas is struck with 'mist and darkness' falling on his eyes (Acts 13:11), and false teachers are compared to 'mists driven by a storm' (2 Pet 2:17). The word appears in plural form in both passages, emphasizing either multiple episodes or the complete obscuring quality of the darkness.