Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
OBSCURE
I. adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French oscur, obscur, from Latin obscurus
Date: 15th century
1. dark , dim , shrouded in or hidden by darkness, not clearly seen or easily distinguished ; faint , not readily understood or clearly expressed, relatively unknown: as, remote , secluded , not prominent or famous , constituting the unstressed vowel \\ə\\ or having unstressed \\ə\\ as its value, obscurely adverb obscureness noun Synonyms: see: obscure
II. transitive verb (obscured; obscuring)
Date: 15th century
to make dark, dim, or indistinct, to conceal or hide by or as if by covering, to reduce (a vowel) to the value \\ə\\, obscuration noun
III. noun
Date: 1667
obscurity