heliotrope

en-noun

heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)

PIE word
 *sóh₂wl̥
The noun is borrowed from French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”), from Ancient Greek ἡλῐοτρόπῐον (hēlĭotrópĭon, “European heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum); bloodstone; solar clock, sundial”), from ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)) + τρόπος (trópos, “a turn”) (from τρέπω (trépō, “to rotate; to turn”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns from verbs)) + -ῐον (-ĭon, diminutive suffix forming nouns).
The French-derived spelling displaced Middle English elitrope, eliotropius, elitropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”) [and other forms], from Old English eliotropus, from Latin hēliotropium (see above); and Old English siġelhweorfa, sōlsece, and sunnfolgend (“heliotrope flower”).
Sense 6 (“synonym of bloodstone”) is from the fact that a piece of the mineral placed in water is said to change the sun’s rays to a blood-red colour: see the 1601 quotation.
The adjective is probably derived from the noun.

ref

From the B. A. Colonna collection, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.A.

nb...

eliscrope, eliotropia, elitrepie, elitropius

garden heliotrope

Heliotropium arborescens or Valeriana officinalis

As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognised in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.

1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XXIX, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 326:

Here's newyearspray, the posquiflor, a windaborne and heliotrope; there miriamsweet and amaranth and marygold to crown.

1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part III, page 561:

(countable, botany, also figuratively) A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

(specifically) A plant of the genus Heliotropium, especially the common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) which has clusters of purple flowers with a strong fragrance.

heliotrooppi

plant of the genus Heliotropium; any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium

He had lost his affable smile, and wore a look of almost military resolution; […] he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.

1881, Henry James, Jr., chapter XLIII, in The Portrait of a Lady, New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 381:

Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope; he hurled it to the floor.

1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Furnished Room”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 246:

(uncountable) The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.

heliotroopin tuoksu

fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers; scent resembling this fragrance

heliotrope:

Kit woke to see looming over him the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green, a gift from one of the patients, […]

2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Bilocations”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 623:

(uncountable) A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.

светловиолетов

(signalling):

(surveying):

(countable) An instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling, or (surveying) triangulation (where the reflected light is detected by another surveyor positioned some distance away).

heliotrooppi

instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling or triangulation


heliotrope

en-adj

heliotrope (comparative more heliotrope, superlative most heliotrope)

more heliotrope (comparative)
most heliotrope (superlative)

"Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?" / "That's right, Mr. Bennett," agreed old Goslin. / "It's the Babe himself!" asserted Harry Bennett.

1904, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Story the Sixth: ‘The Babe’ Applies for Shares”, in Tommy and Co., 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: Langton and Hall, →OCLC, page 232:

There was a ten-mile stretch of level ground, blown hard as rock, from which the sustenance had been bleached, for not a spear of grass grew there. And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.

1917 January, Zane Grey, chapter VI, in Wildfire, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 78:

Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.

heliotroopin värinen

of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers


cauterize

en-verb

cauterize (third-person singular simple present cauterizes, present participle cauterizing, simple past and past participle cauterized)

cauterizes (present singular third-person)
cauterizing (participle present)
cauterized (participle past)
cauterized (past)
cauterise (alternative)

/ˈkɔːtəɹaɪz/

[ˈkʰɔɾəɹaɪz]

[ˈkʰɑɾəɹaɪz]

From Middle French cauteriser, from Late Latin cauterizō (“to burn with a hot iron”), from Ancient Greek καυτηριάζω (kautēriázō, “to brand”), from καυτήρ (kautḗr, “branding iron”), from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).

der

[…] Lanfrank takes Notice of Tract. 3. Doct. 3. cap. 18. ſaying, "I have ſeen many who being full of Humours, have made an Iſſue under the Knee, before due Purgation had been premis'd; whence, by reaſon of the too great Defluxion of Humours, the Legs tumified, ſo that the cauterized Place corrupted, and a Cancer (or rather cacoethic Ulcer) was thereby made, with which great Difficulty was cur'd."

1732, George Smith, Institutiones Chirurgicæ: or, Principles of Surgery, … To which is Annexed, a Chirurgical Dispensatory, …, London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet, →OCLC, page 254:

To burn and hence seal open tissue using a heated article or caustic agent so as to stop bleeding or minimise the risk of infection.


actinism

en-noun

actinism (usually uncountable, plural actinisms)

electromagnetic radiation
electromagnetic radiation

(chemistry, physics) That property of electromagnetic radiation that leads to the production of photochemical effects

aktinisme

the property of electromagnetic radiation that leads to the production of photochemical effects


lantern

lanterns (plural)
lanthorn (alternative)

→ Bengali: লন্ঠন (lonṭhon)

Hindi: लालटेन (lālṭen)

→ Irish: laindéar

→ Malay: lentera

Indonesian: lentera

→ Telugu: లాంతరు (lāntaru)

From Middle English lanterne (13th century), via Old French lanterne from Latin lanterna (“lantern”), itself a corruption of Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “torch”) (see lamp, λάμπω (lámpō)) by influence of Latin lucerna (“lamp”). The spelling lanthorn was current during the 16th to 19th centuries and originates with a folk etymology associating the word with the use of horn as translucent cover. For the verb, compare French lanterner to hang at the lamppost. Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light-container”).


sear

en-adj

sear (comparative searer or more sear, superlative searest or most sear)

searer (comparative)
more sear (comparative)
searest (superlative)
most sear (superlative)
sere (alternative)
sare (alternative)

From Middle English sere, seer, seere, from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, sere, sear, withered, barren”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ews- (“dry, parched”) (also reconstructed as *h₂sews-).
Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry, rough”), Low German soor (“dry”), German sohr (“parched, dried up”), dialectal Norwegian søyr (“the desiccation and death of a tree”), Lithuanian saũsas (“dry”), Homeric Ancient Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”). Doublet of sere and sare.

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-sear.wav

There are in all but three vvayes of going thither [to the moon]. […] [The] third, Old Empedocles vvay; vvho vvhen he leaped into Ætna, having a drie ſeare bodie, and light, the ſmoake took him and vvhift him up into the Moone, vvhere he lives yet vvaving up and dovvne like a feather, all foot and embers comming out of that cole-pit; our Poet met him, and talkt vvith him.

1620 January 17 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Newes from the New World Discover’d in the Moon. A Masque, […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640–1641, →OCLC, page 42:

The autumn winds rushing / Waft the leaves that are searest, / But our flower was in flushing, / When blighting was nearest.

1810, Walter Scott, “Canto III. The Gathering.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 118:

Dry; withered, especially of vegetation.


sear

en-verb

sear (third-person singular simple present sears, present participle searing, simple past and past participle seared)

sears (present singular third-person)
searing (participle present)
seared (participle past)
seared (past)
sere (alternative)
sare (alternative)

From Middle English seren, seeren, from Old English sēarian (“to become sere, to grow sear, wither, pine away”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀēn (“to dry out, become dry”); compare also Proto-Germanic *sauzijaną (“to make dry”). Related to Old High German sōrēn (“to wither, wilt”). See Etymology 1 for more cognates. The use in firearms terminology may relate to French serrer (“to grip”).

cog

I will sear the skin from your flesh. You will die a thousand deaths!

2001, Ben Stivers, Wrath of Magic, page 123:

When you drop the tuna onto the pan, the outside will sear and cook quickly while leaving as much of the center as possible in its raw state.

2010, Jeff Potter, Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food, page 180:

I often will sear steaks, move them to a cooler side, then use the hot side to grill or sauté vegetables, make a sauce in a cast-iron skillet, or grill some fruit for dessert while the steak finishes.

2016, Melissa Cookston, Smokin' Hot in the South, page 12:

(transitive) To char, scorch, or burn the surface of (something) with a hot instrument.

لَفَحَ

To char, scorch, or burn the surface of something with a hot instrument

The events of that day were seared into her memory.

(transitive, figurative) To mark permanently, as if by burning.


sear

sears (plural)
sere (alternative)
sare (alternative)


mermaid

From Middle English mermayde (“maid of the sea”), from mere (“sea, lake”) + maid, equivalent to mer- + maid. Cognate with Dutch meermeid (“mermaid”), Middle High German mermaget, mermeit (“mermaid”, > German Meermagd, Meermädchen (“mermaid”)). Compare Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”).

inh

a mermaid smoothie

mermaid ice-cream

(as a modifier) Coloured a brilliant turquoise.


fluorescent

en-adj

fluorescent (comparative more fluorescent, superlative most fluorescent)

more fluorescent (comparative)
most fluorescent (superlative)

/ˌflʊəˈɹɛsənt/

The fluorescent plants shimmered in the darkness.

The quality of fluorescent lighting technology has improved dramatically in recent years.

The shed, a steel-framed structure with a single-span roof devoid of intermediate support, is exceptionally well-lit by continuous glazing on the roof and along much of the sides, while there is fluorescent roof lighting for night work.

1960 July 7, “New Eastern Region diesel depot at Finsbury Park”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 422–423:

Emitting visible light as a result of the excitation of phosphors by ultraviolet photons produced by the passage of an electrical current through an inert gas infused with mercury.

Her shirt was fluorescent orange.


fluorescent

/ˌflʊəˈɹɛsənt/

The fluorescents hummed day and night.

Compact fluorescents are typically rated at 7,500 to 10,000 hours, and incandescents at about 1,500 hours.

2007 March 1, Matthew L. Wald, “Room to Improve”, in The New York Times:


nine-one-one (alternative)
nine one one (alternative)

9/11 attacks
Federal Communications Commission
National Emergency Number Association
United States

Chosen by the United States in the 1960s in place of the older British 999 number as a better way to avoid accidental calls from push-button telephones. It is officially pronounced "nine-one-one," not "nine-eleven," since "nine-eleven" refers to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 9/11 is universally distinguished from 911 to refer the September 11, 2001 attacks. Officially written as 9-1-1 in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communications Commission, which is also advocated by some media style guides.

When you call 911 in the United States, a local dispatcher usually answers the phone with "911" or "911. What's your emergency?"

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!

2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2

Well, look, I wear a mask, I try not to be a maskhole about it. If I see — if I see somebody who doesn't have a mask, I don't call 911.

2021 March 18, John Kennedy, quotee, “SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA) IS INTERVIEWED ON FOX NEWS”, in Political Transcript Wire, Lanham:

The telephone number for emergency services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Liberia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Anguilla, Palau, and Tonga.

emergency services(Australia) 000(Mongolia) 105(China, Iran) 110(New Zealand) 111(European Union) 112(Japan, South Korea) 119(UK, Ireland) 999


en-noun

911 (countable and uncountable, plural 911s)

911 is sending an ambulance.

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, metonymically) Emergency services; emergency service personnel.


en-verb

911 (third-person singular simple present 911s, present participle 911ing, simple past and past participle 911ed)

London hairstylist Rick Haylor for the John Frieda Salon—the man Nicole Kidman 911s when she wants her curly mop to lie down and look glamorous—tells you how to go straight.

1997 August 7, “50 New Fall Hair Looks”, in Cosmopolitan, volume 223, number 2, page 208:

(Canada, US, Belize, Liberia, Philippines, colloquial) To call emergency services.


heliograph

It was a lieutenant and a couple of privates of the 8th Hussars, with a stand like a theodolite, which the artilleryman told me was a heliograph.

1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “What I Saw of the Destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 91:

And Love had made him very sage, as Nature made her fair; / So Cupid and Apollo linked, per heliograph, the pair.

1919, Rudyard Kipling, “A Code of Morals”, in Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads:

when we stood up at nightfall we saw, in the sunset, the sparkle of the heliograph above cities, on the far side of the horizon.

1979, Alasdair Gray, “Five Letters From an Eastern Empire”, in Every Short Story 1951-2012, Canongate, published 2012, page 93:

An apparatus for signalling by means of a moveable mirror which reflects flashes of sunlight.

An instrument for measuring the intensity of sunlight.


heliograph

heliograph (third-person singular simple present heliographs, present participle heliographing, simple past and past participle heliographed)

heliographs (present singular third-person)
heliographing (participle present)
heliographed (participle past)
heliographed (past)

With damnatory dot and dash he heliographed his wife / Some interesting details of the General's private life.

(transitive) To send a message by heliograph.

(transitive, dated) To photograph by sunlight.


helioscope

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-helioscope.wav

(astronomy) An apparatus for viewing the Sun without harming the eye, by means of an optical filter that attenuates most of sunlight while allowing only a small amount of the solar radiation.


scorch

scorch (third-person singular simple present scorches, present participle scorching, simple past and past participle scorched)

scorches (present singular third-person)
scorching (participle present)
scorched (participle past)
scorched (past)

From Middle English scorchen, scorcnen (“to make dry; parch”), perhaps an alteration of earlier *scorpnen, from Old Norse skorpna (“to shrivel up”).

(transitive) To burn the surface of something so as to discolour it

обгарям

to burn the surface of something so as to discolour it

Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires.

(transitive) To wither, parch or destroy something by heat or fire, especially to make land or buildings unusable to an enemy

ütmək

to wither, parch or destroy something by heat or fire

Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 16:8:

the fire that scorches me to death

1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):


heliostat

Circa 1750, from New Latin heliostata, from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) + Latin status (“stationary”).

In reply, the clockwork heliostats that had tracked the sun to reflect light into the indoor areas during the day now swivelled towards the street lamp to do the same for the night.

2024, Jasper Fforde, Red Side Story, Hodder & Stoughton, page 90:

A device that includes a plane mirror which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating for the sun's apparent motions in the sky. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direction in space, and is almost always stationary relative to the heliostat, so the light is reflected in a fixed direction.

heliòstat

device to continuously reflect sunlight toward a predetermined target, almost always in some fixed direction, despite the sun's motions in the sky


luminous

en-adj

luminous (comparative more luminous, superlative most luminous)

more luminous (comparative)
most luminous (superlative)
luminious (alternative)

Borrowed from Middle French lumineus, from Latin lūminōsus.

The moon, which had been slowly ascending, now shone through an open space between the trees; and the rippling waters of the brook gave back her light in luminous vibrations.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 21:

The bonfire in his heart made luminous the rose-tan in his cheek.

1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter [HTTP://GUTENBERG.NET.AU/EBOOKS06/0608511H.HTML CHAPTER 11].”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

Emitting light; glowing brightly; shining.


pastel

en-noun

pastel (countable and uncountable, plural pastels)

Borrowed from French pastel, from Italian pastello (“pastel”), from Medieval Latin pastellum (“dough, paste”), from Latin pasta (“dough, paste”), ultimately from Ancient Greek πάστη (pástē, “dough, paste”). Doublet of pastegh, pastiglia, pastila, pastilla, and pastille.

doublet

Wool was dyed in the pastel vat.


oatmeal

en-noun

oatmeal (usually uncountable, plural oatmeals)

From Middle English otemele, from ote (“oat”) + mele (“meal, coarse-ground grains”). Equivalent to oat + meal.

A breakfast cereal made from rolled oats, cooked in milk and/or water.

вівся́не бо́рошно n (vivsjáne bórošno, literally “oat flour”)

oatmeal:

A light greyish brown colour, like that of oatmeal.


oatmeal

Boldly patterned textiles in oatmeal tones with a woven design in a strongly contrasting colour can be used alike for upholstery and as a wall hanging […]

Of a light greyish brown colour, like that of oatmeal


smoke explosion

smoke explosion (plural smoke explosions)

(firefighting) An explosion of flue gases accumulated inside a burning building.


firefighting

(by extension, figuratively) Solving an urgent problem.


fire alarm

A four fire-alarm fire ripped through a row of 2.5 story frame dwellings during the early morning hours

(firefighting) An emergency response to a fire by the fire department with manpower and equipment.


fire truck

fire trucks (plural)
firetruck (alternative)

(firefighting, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A ladder truck, a vehicle used by firefighters to gain access to the upper stories of a building. Typically, a fire truck has a hydraulic system which operates a large, heavy-duty ladder mounted on top of the truck body, space for portable ladders to be stored and compartments for holding other tools that may be needed. Unlike a fire engine, trucks do not have pumps or carry water.


backdraft

backdrafts (plural)
back draft (alternative)
back draught (alternative)
backdraught (alternative)

(American spelling, firefighting) Sudden, dangerous recombustion that occurs when there is a rapid reintroduction of oxygen to an enclosed space containing a fire.

a different extreme fire behavior phenomenon


full moon

full moons (plural)
fullmoon (alternative)

From Middle English ful mone, from Old English full mōna, equivalent to full + moon.

The moon when it is in opposition to the sun.


new moon

From Middle English newe moone, newe mone, equivalent to new + moon.

donkermaan

phase of moon when in conjunction with sun

Coordinate term: full moon

The phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and is therefore obscured.

Coordinate term: full moon

The moon when it is in conjunction with the sun.

Coordinate term: old moon

The phase of the moon when it is waxing.

Coordinate term: old moon


fire hydrant

(firefighting) A device used by firefighters to obtain water from the main supply, consisting of a barrel, connections for hose and a valve assembly.

صُنْبُور حَرِيق

a device used by firefighters to obtain water from the main


Min Min light

Named after the small settlement of Min Min, located between the outback towns of Boulia and Winton, where the light was observed by a stockman in 1918.

Min-min lights are usually seen during the winter, for example, when cold-air inversions abound. This, and his artificial min-min, seemed to confirm the theory.

2003, New Scientist, volume 180, numbers 2415-2428, page 71:

Then, once a man was talking about his outdoor work, he got around to speaking about the mysteries of the min-min light and who saw it where.

2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 340:

Neuroscientist, Professor Jack Pettigrew, of the University of Queensland claims the Min Min lights are an inverted mirage of light sources hundreds of miles away, caused by a temperature inversion when cold dense air is trapped near the ground to be refracted so that it travels a curved path around the globe.

2006, Marion Houldsworth, From Gulf to God Knows Where, footnote, page 127:

“You′ve heard of Min Min lights?” She grinned. “Sure.”
The strange appearance of those lights in the outback was legendary.[…]
“Min Min lights were part of Aboriginal folklore long before modern day sightings made them famous,” Jack said.

2010, Robyn Grady, Bargaining For Baby, unnumbered page:

Travellers camping out on the plains may witness a glowing light that seems to hover eerily across the vast landscape – the unexplained Min Min Lights that have been shrouded in mystery for over 100 years.

2010, Craig Lewis, Cathy Savage, The Complete 4WD Guide, unnumbered page:

(Australia) An unexplained light reportedly appearing in the sky in remote parts of Australia, especially northwest Queensland, possibly caused by reflections of distant light in the dry air conditions.


blaze orange

blaze orange:


ozone layer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ozone layer.wav

A region of the stratosphere, between 15 and 30 kilometres in altitude, containing a relatively high concentration of ozone, which absorbs most solar ultraviolet radiation.


notturno

/nɒˈtʊə(ɹ)nəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian notturno (“nocturnal, nightly”), from Latin nocturnus, from noctū (“by night”), from nox (“night”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Doublet of nocturne.


Prometheus

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Prometheus.wav

From Ancient Greek Προμηθεύς (Promētheús), from πρό (pró, “before”) + μανθάνω (manthánō, “to think”).


burning

en-adj

burning (comparative more burning, superlative most burning)

more burning (comparative)
most burning (superlative)

The driver remained at his post, while telling fireman Jim Nightall to get down on the track and run back to uncouple the burning wagon from the rest.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948:


ultraviolet

ultraviolet (comparative more ultraviolet, superlative most ultraviolet)

more ultraviolet (comparative)
most ultraviolet (superlative)

/ˌʌltɹəˈvaɪələt/

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-
Latin ūls
Proto-Indo-European *-teros?
Latin -ter
Latin -ā
Latin ultrālbor.
English ultra-
Latin viola
Old French -ette
Old French violettebor.
Middle English violet
English violet
English ultraviolet
From ultra- (“beyond”) + violet (“violet”).

etymon

Of electromagnetic radiation beyond (higher in frequency than) light visible to the human eye; radiation with wavelengths from 380 to 10 nanometres.


gaslight

en-noun

gaslight (countable and uncountable, plural gaslights)

gaslights (plural)
gas light (alternative)
gas-light (alternative)

From gas (“flammable gaseous hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mixture used as a fuel”) + light.

compound

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-gaslight.wav

He was renovated and refreshed, his soul was strengthened, and his countenance waxed cheerful, and he began to feel like himself again, under the brown canopy of metropolitan smoke, and among the cabs and gaslights.

[1871], J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “Captain Lake Looks in at Nightfall”, in Wylder’s Hand: […] (Select Library of Fiction; 178), new edition, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 118:

Open the windows once in awhile and give the air a chance to circulate in and out. In the evening, do not forget that the lamps and gaslights are using up a goodly supply of oxygen also—so freshen things up a little, once in awhile.

1904, Yogi Ramacharaka [pseudonym; William Walker Atkinson], “Fresh Air”, in Hatha Yoga: Or The Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well-being […], Chicago, Ill.: Yogi Publication Society […], →OCLC, page 222:

A lamp which operates by burning piped illuminating gas (or town gas).


ember

From Middle English embryne (“running around, circuit”), from Old English ymbryne (“course; circuit”). Spelling changed through folk etymology. By surface analysis, umb- + run.

inh

ember fasts

ember days

ember weeks

(religion) Making a circuit of the year or the seasons; recurring in each quarter of the year, as certain religious days set apart for fasting and prayer.


éminence grise

en-noun

éminence grise (plural éminences grises or éminence grises)

éminences grises (plural)
éminence grises (plural)
eminence grise (alternative)

/ˌɛmɪnɒns ˈɡɹiːz/

Borrowed from French éminence grise (literally “grey eminence”), originally applied to François Leclerc du Tremblay (1577–1638), also known as Père Joseph, a French Capuchin friar who was the confidant and agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), the chief minister of France under Louis XIII (1601–1643). The term refers to du Tremblay’s influence over the Cardinal (who bore the honorific of Eminence), and the colour of his habit (grey, rather than the red of a cardinal).

bor

But Harry Hopkins was no mere manipulator of people and ideas, no eminence grise masterminding the actions of figureheads.

1987 July 12, John A[rthur] Garraty, “Harry’s Luck [book review of Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy by George McJimsey]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-19, page 28:

[Ichirō] Ozawa is the Secretary-General of [Yukio] Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) and the éminence grise of the electoral campaign that catapulted the new Prime Minister to power.

2009 September 16, Coco Masters, “Japan’s New Prime Minister—and New Shadow Shogun”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-10-21:

(idiomatic) A secret or unofficial decision-maker.

Cardinal Richelieu
François Leclerc du Tremblay
Louis XIII

灰衣主教

secret or unofficial decision-maker — see also power behind the throne

се́рый кардина́л m (séryj kardinál, literally “grey cardinal”)


knock down

en-verb

knock down (third-person singular simple present knocks down, present participle knocking down, simple past and past participle knocked down)

knocks down (present singular third-person)
knocking down (participle present)
knocked down (participle past)
knocked down (past)

(transitive, firefighting) To reduce the burning of (a fire), as by cooling it with water or dirt.


spotlight

Some people enjoy the spotlight.

(figurative) The center of attention; the highlight or most important part.

أَضْوَاء

the center of attention; the highlight or most important part


infrared

en-noun

infrared (countable and uncountable, plural infrareds)

/ˌɪnfɹəˈɹɛd/

/ˌɪnfɹəˈɹed/

Collisions of these 'transparent' molecules with the molecules that do have absorption bands in the infrared can have a considerable influence on the intensities of the observed absorption bands.

1962, John Nelson Howard, Transmission of the Atmosphere in the Infrared: A Review, page 3:

(uncountable) The electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than visible light, but shorter than microwave radiation, having a wavelength between 700 nm and 1 mm.

infrarooi

radiation of a wavelength between 700 nm and 1 mm

інфрачырво́нае выпраме́ньванне n (infračyrvónaje vypramjénʹvannje, literally “infrared radiation”)

инфракра́сное излуче́ние n (infrakrásnoje izlučénije, literally “infrared radiation”)

інфрачерво́не випромі́нювання n (infračervóne vypromínjuvannja, literally “infrared radiation”)

In his room, he could install his infrareds without being discovered.

Beams are the active counterparts of passive infrareds (PIRs). Since these are active infrareds, they require two parts: a transmitter and a receiver.

2007, Ed Morawski, Solving the Security Puzzle, page 79:

Additionally, infrareds tend to cook food faster so there's less time to render said fat.

2020, Jenny Dorsey, The Infrared Grill Master: Recipes and Techniques for Perfectly Seared, Deliciously Smokey BBQ Every Time:

(countable) A device that emits infrared radiation.


infrared

/ˌɪnfɹəˈɹɛd/

/ˌɪnfɹəˈɹed/

Having a wavelength in the infrared spectrum.

Unless otherwise stated, we will be working in Euclidean space compactified to a sphere in order to avoid infrared problems.

1986, Luis Álvarez-Gaumé, “An Introduction to Anomalies”, in G. Velo, A. S. Wightman, editors, Fundamental Problems of Gauge Field Theory, →ISBN, page 97:

Secondly, as stated already by Osborne & Provenzale, pure k^(-α)-behaviour is impossible since there would have to be infinite power at zero frequency (this would correspond to an infrared catastrophe).

2000, Andreas Galka, Topics in Nonlinear Time Series Analysis: With Implications for EEG Analysis, →ISBN, page 176:

Although infrared divergences are of long-distance nature, they often play an essential role in the verification of the validity of the perturbative treatment of short-distance phenomena.

2010, Taizo Muta, Foundations of Quantum Chromodynamics: An Introduction to Perturbative Methods in Gauge Theories, 3rd edition, →ISBN, page 331:

(figurative, physics) Relating to very low energies or very large distances or time spans.


tawny

en-adj

tawny (comparative tawnier, superlative tawniest)

tawnier (comparative)
tawniest (superlative)
tawney (alternative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English tauni, tawne (“having a brownish-orange colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman taune, tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“of a tan colour”), an adjective use of the past participle of taner (“to turn hide into leather, tan”), from tan (“pulped oak bark used to tan leather, tanbark”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *tannos (“green oak”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)dʰnwos, *(s)dʰonu (“fir”).
The -aw- spelling (also -au- in Middle English) seems to have been due to the pronunciation of Old French tané.
The verb is derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Breton tann
* Medieval Latin tannāre (“to dye a tawny color; to tan”)
* Old Irish caerthann (“rowan”)

nb...

taunde, taunei, tauneʒ, tauny, tawny, (chiefly Northern England, Scotland) tanei, tani, tanne, tannee, tanny, tannye, tany, thanne

cog

And if any of your nation attempte once to ſtoppe me in my iorney now towards Calais, […] I in my defence ſhall colour and make red your tawny ground with the effuſion of chriſtian bloud: […]

1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “King Henrie the Fifth”, in The Laste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume II, London: […] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, page 1077, column 2:

The VVooſell cock, ſo blacke of hevve, / VVith Orange tavvny bill, / The Throſtle, vvith his note ſo true, / The VVren, vvith little quill.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

Come, vve muſt haue you turne Fiddler againe, ſlaue, 'get a Baſe Violin at your backe, and march in a Tavvnie Coate, vvith one ſleeue, to Gooſe-faire, and then you'll knovve vs; […]

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv:

To the Queen he gave […] a ſmall Box full of large Needles; then he gave her ſome courſe brovvn Thread, and ſhovv'd her hovv to thred the Needle and ſovv any Thing together vvith the Thread; all vvhich ſhe admired exceedingly, and call'd her Tavvny Maids of Honour about her, that they might learn alſo.

1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part I”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], →OCLC, page 155:

[T]he vvatch-dogs and aſſembled ſvvains / Have driv'n a tavvny lion from the ſtalls, […]

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XI.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 289, lines 661–662:

[T]he head waiter inquired with respectful solicitude whether that port, being a light and tawny wine, was suited to his taste, or whether he would wish to try a fruity port with greater body.

1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “Will be Seen in the Long Run, if Not in the Short One, to Concern Mr. Pinch and Others, Nearly. […]”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, pages 150–151:

[P]erhaps they metamorphose themselves into a tawny squirrel that scampers away and mocks you from the topmost bough.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “In the Wood”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 240:

There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel.

1865, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Shipwreck”, in [Sophia Thoreau; William Ellery Channing], editors, Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 14:

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; / And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, / When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, / A red-coat troop came marching— / Marching—marching— / King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2, stanza I, pages 48–49:

They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time their intoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-haunted walls.

1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, “Wayfarers All”, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 196:

I never thought I'd meet a girl like you / With auburn hair and tawny eyes

1982 March, Frank Maudsley, Paul Reynolds, Ali Score, Mike Score (lyrics and music), “I Ran (So Far Away)”, in A Flock of Seagulls, performed by A Flock of Seagulls:

Dio Cassius, writing more than one hundred years after the event, described Boudicca as 'very tall, in appearance most terrifying … the glance of her eye most fierce, her voice harsh … a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips'.

2001, John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves, “Romano-British Rulers”, in The Kings & Queens of Britain, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 13:

ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWK Chordeiles gundlachii […] Somewhat tawnier and smaller than Common Nighthawk, but readily distinguished from it only by call.

2019, Roger Tory Peterson, Michael DiGiorgio, Paul Lehman, Peter Pyle, Larry Rosche, “Owls and Nightjars”, in Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America (Peterson Field Guides), 2nd edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 230:

Of a light brown to brownish orange colour.

آدَم

of a light brown to brownish orange colour


tawny

en-verb

tawny (third-person singular simple present tawnies, present participle tawnying, simple past and past participle tawnied)

tawnies (present singular third-person)
tawnying (participle present)
tawnied (participle past)
tawnied (past)

So many friends, their friendſhips daily breake, / That fevve are faithfull, if that fevve be any: / The Sunne ſo ſoone, the painted face vvill tavvny.

1602, Nicholas Breton, The Mothers Blessing, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Iohn Smethick, […], →OCLC, signature [D4], recto:

He [Vulcan] ſmels all ſmoake, and vvith his naſty ſvveate / Tavvnies my skinne, out on him vgly knaue, / Mars is my loue, and he my ſvveets ſhall haue.

1613, Thomas Heywood, The Brazen Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature I2, verso:

Alas 'tis faded, ſoyl'd vvith the ſmoke of Luſt; / So ſvvarthy as if that glorious face of thine / VVere tavvnyed underneath the torrid Line: […]

1632, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “On Gods Image”, in Divine Fancies: Digested into Epigrammes, Meditations, and Observations, London: […] Iohn Marriot, […], →OCLC, book III, page 148:

The General stares into the sandstorm churned up by all that movement. Like a curtain draped across the world, tawnying the October sky.

2017, Nathan Englander, “2014, Limbo”, in Dinner at the Centre of the Earth, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN:

(transitive) To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.

The countenance alone bespoke the years and the cares of John M‘Whirter. The deep wrinkled brow—the cheek plaited, and tawnied in the sun and the frosts of the north— […]

1825, chapter XI, in The Abduction; or, The Adventures of Major Sarney: A Story of the Times of Charles the Second. […], volume II, London: […] [William Clowes] for Charles Knight, […], →OCLC, page 249:

In his drowse it all turned gleaming and mixing in him, his whole life, like the river gleaming taut between the trees. And everything that had ever happened to him tawnied over by the voluptuous light of the last fall, and his mouth watered for it all.

1990, Meridel Le Sueur, “Gone Home”, in Elaine Hedges, editor, Ripening: Selected Work, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, →ISBN, page 215:

[C]olheita is actually a tawny Port from a single vintage. In other words, it has aged (and softened and tawnied) in wood for many years.

2019, Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, “Wine Roads Less Traveled: Fortified and Dessert Wines”, in Wine for Dummies (For Dummies), 7th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part 5 (Wine’s Exotic Face), page 318:

(intransitive) To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.


tawny

en-noun

tawny (countable and uncountable, plural tawnies or tawnys)

From Middle English tauni, tawne (“brownish-orange colour; cloth of this colour; sweet beverage of this colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“tan colour; cloth of this colour”), from tané (verb): see further at etymology 1.
Sense 2.1 (“Eurasian bullfinch”) is due to the brown colour of the female.

kellanruskea

something of a light brown or brownish orange colour

tawny:

Neere to Canuſia, the ſheepe be deepe yellovv or tavvnie; and about Tarentum, they are of a brovvne and duſkiſh colour.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Divers Kinds of Wooll and Clothes.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 227:

Despise not my discolour'd look: / This tawny from the sun I took.

1641, George Sandys, “A Paraphrase upon the Song of Solomon. Canto I.”, in The Poetical Works of George Sandys. […], volume II, London: John Russell Smith, […], published 1872, →OCLC, page 340:

From the follovving Dye are Compoſed the beſt Tavvnies, Grey and Crimſon Goat Colours. […] The Silk muſt be put in vvhen the Suds are cold, for the colder the Suds, the blevver the Violet Colour, vvhich muſt alvvays be blevver than the Tavvnies.

1705, “Part I. Of Silk Dying.”, in [anonymous], transl., The Whole Art of Dying. […], London: […] William Pearson, and sold by J[ohn] Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 14:

And thus by varying the Colours you ſhall produce all ſorts of mixtures: So black and vvhite variouſly mixed make a vaſt Company of deep and light Greys, Bleus and Yellovvs, many Greens; Red and Yellovv Orange Tavvnies, […] the more the Red the deeper the Orange Tavvnies, and ſo forth; and thus muſt they in your VVork be ſhaded and heightened vvith Colours of their ovvn Affinity: […]

1720, Tho[mas] Page, Junior, “The Materials of Painting, Describing the Chief Colours to be Used; […]”, in The Art of Painting in Its Rudiment, Progress, and Perfection: […], Norwich, Norfolk: […] , […], →OCLC, pages 48–49:

'Gad, if Miss S. will have me, I'm her man. I ain't particular about a shade or so of tawny.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 200:

A light brown to brownish orange colour.

[T]he Herehaught [herald] muſt have a ſinguler reſpect to the face of him that ſhould haue the Armes, vvhere he ſhal vvel perceiue in vvhat ſeaſõ of the yere, his ovvn complexion vvill ſerue him to do beſt ſeruice in: […] If in Somer, either a Hound or Salamandra, or ſome part of them, of the colour Bruske, vvhich is betvveene Geules and tavvney.

1597, Gerard Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh], The Accedence of Armorie, London: […] Henrie Ballard […], →OCLC, folio 116, verso:

Tavvny (ſaith Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh]) is a Colour of vvorſhip, and of ſome Heralds it is called Bruske, and is moſt commonly borne of French Gentlemen, but very fevv doe beare it in England. In Blazon it is knovvne by the name of Tenne. It is (ſaith he) the ſureſt colour that is (of ſo bright a hevv being compounded) for it is made of tvvo bright Colours, vvhich are Red and Yellovv: […]

1632, John Guillim, “Sect[ion] I. Chap[ter] III.”, in A Display of Heraldrie: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Badger for Ralph Mab, →OCLC, page 21:

Tenne, vvhich is the tavvny or Orange colour, is marked by diagonal lines dravvn from the Siniſter to the Dexter ſide of the Shield, traverſed by perpendicular lines from the Chief; […]

1765, Mark Anthony Porny [pseudonym; Antoine Pyron du Martre], “Of the Essential and Integral Parts of Arms. Article II. Of the Tinctures.”, in The Elements of Heraldry, […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, section I (Of Colours), page 17:

Some heraldic writers extend the number of tinctures to seven, by the addition of sanguine or murrey, dark blood or mulberry-colour, and tenné, tawny, or orange-colour; while others who admit them into the catalogue declare them, at the same time, to be stainant, or disgraceful; but, as I have stated in my notice of Abatements (p. 171), it is very improbable any one would bear arms so degraded; and the strongest proof that no such opinion with respect to these two colours existed in the days of chivalry is, that the livery colours of the house of York were murrey and blue, and that tawny was apparently much affected by the retainers of the nobility and Church dignitaries.

1859 April, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Appendix”, in The Pursuivant of Arms; or, Heraldry Founded upon Facts. […], new edition, London: Robert Hardwicke, […], →OCLC, page 209:

(specifically, heraldry) Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”)


watery

en-adj

watery (comparative waterier, superlative wateriest)

waterier (comparative)
wateriest (superlative)
watry (alternative)

From Middle English watery, wattry, from Old English wæteriġ (“watery”), from Proto-West Germanic *watarīg. Equivalent to water + -y.

(of light) Thin and pale therefore suggestive of water.


brownish

brownish (comparative more brownish, superlative most brownish)

more brownish (comparative)
most brownish (superlative)

The Giraffe and the Zebra and the Eland and the Koodoo and the Hartebeest lived there; and they were 'sclusively sandy-yellow-brownish all over […]

1902, Rudyard Kipling, “How the Leopard Got His Spots”, in Just So Stories:

Two pumps stood side by side in our kitchen. One was for well water and one was a cistern pump—water from the former was hard and clear, from the cistern it was brownish and soft.

1942, Emily Carr, “Waterworks”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

Watt wore, on his feet, a boot, brown in colour, and a shoe, happily of a brownish colour also.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

Of a colour which resembles brown; somewhat brown.

brunenc

of a colour which resembles brown; somewhat brown


black light

en-noun

black light (countable and uncountable, plural black lights)

black lights (plural)
blacklight (alternative)

From black + light, since ultraviolet light is invisible to the human eye.

(countable) A light bulb that emits ultraviolet light, usually used to create the illusion that anything white is glowing.

(uncountable, slang) Ultraviolet radiation or light.


ultraviolet light

ultraviolet light (countable and uncountable, plural ultraviolet lights)

(countable) A light bulb that emits ultraviolet light; a black light.


verdant

en-adj

verdant (comparative more verdant, superlative most verdant)

more verdant (comparative)
most verdant (superlative)

From Middle French verdoyant, from Old French verb verdier, verdoier, from vert (“green”), from Vulgar Latin *virdis, from Latin viridis.


wildfire

en-noun

wildfire (countable and uncountable, plural wildfires)

From Old English wilde fȳr. Equivalent to wild + fire.

A rapidly spreading fire, especially one occurring in a wildland area.

So, it appears a revolution has happened and a very unexpected one. Of course it was only a matter of time before it happened. With WiFi connectivity spreading faster than wildfire and a laptop or tablet in one’s bag, what’s the point of a mobile nowadays?

2015 January 18, Monty Munford, “What’s the point of carrying a mobile phone nowadays?”, in The Daily Telegraph:

“It was my own personal watch and I wanted to change the face,” she said in an interview during a recent business trip to New York. “I started wearing it, and it was wildfire — everybody wanted one.”

2022 December 9, Rachel Felder, “These Timex Dials Were Designed With a Jeweler’s Eye”, in The New York Times:

(figuratively) Something that acts or spreads quickly and uncontrollably.

kulovalkea

something that acts quickly and uncontrollably


shaft

From Middle English schaft, from Old English sċeaft, from Proto-West Germanic *skaft, from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz. Cognate with Dutch schacht, German German Schaft, Swedish skaft.

Isn't that shaft of light from that opening in the cave beautiful?

They were a fine company of old women, and a Dutch painter would have loved to find them there together, where the sun made bright patches on the floor and sent long, quivering shafts of gold through the dusky shade up among the rafters.


nocturne

Borrowed from French nocturne (literally “nocturnal”), from Latin nocturnus. Doublet of notturno.

He [James Abbott McNeill Whistler] was then asked for his definition of a Nocturne: “I have perhaps, meant rather to indicate an artistic interest alone in the work, divesting the picture from any outside sort of interest which might have been otherwise attached to it. It is an arrangement of line, form, and colour first, and I make use of any incident of it which shall bring about a symmetrical result. Among my works are some night pieces; and I have chosen the word Nocturne because it generalises and simplifies the whole set of them.”

1908, E[lizabeth] R[obins] Pennell with J[oseph] Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, London: W[illiam] Heinemann; Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

When John Ruskin, a sort of pope among the art critics of the time, was faced with [James Abbott McNeill] Whistler’s canvases at the opening exhibition of The Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, he was so outraged that he attacked Whistler in a review, charging him with wilful imposture for “flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.” It seems that Ruskin's main target was Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875).

1996, Peter Wagner, “Oscar Wilde’s ‘Impression du matin’ – an Intermedial Reading”, in Icons – Texts – Iconotexts: Essays on Ekphrasis and Intermediality [European Cultures; 6], Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 287:

A work of art relating or dedicated to the night.


blazing

Blazing scarlet is the best; rifle-green the next best.

1859, Punch, Or, The London Charivari, Volumes 36-37, Published for the Proprietors, at the Office, 13, page 236:

Of tremendous intensity, heat (thermal energy) or fervor; white-hot.

The divorced couple had a blazing row.

Ahab seemed a pyramid, and I, like a blazing fool, kept kicking at it.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 142:


phthalo green

From phthalo and green, from phthalocyanine.

phthalo green:

A synthetic pigment (full name phthalocyanine) of a bright, high intensity, used in oil- and acrylic-based artists' paints, and in other applications.


crown fire

crown fire (countable and uncountable, plural crown fires)


nightlight

nightlights (plural)
night light (alternative)

She had brought in with her the night-light that had been burning outside her door. She blew it out.

1925, D. H. Lawrence, chapter XVIII, in Louis L. Martz, editor, Quetzalcoatl, New York: New Directions, published 1998, page 310:

They made you give up / your nightlight / and your teddy / and your thumb.

1974, Anne Sexton, “The Fury of Overshoes”, in The Complete Poems, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, published 1981, page 372:

1988, Joseph Brodsky, "Gorbunov and Gorchakov" Canto 13 in In Urania, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 165,
Your light cannot drive off the dark from me— / not any more than night-lights by the bed / drive off my dreams.

He put a small nightlight in the bathroom to find his way around in the dark.

a small, dim light or lamp left on overnight

дежурна светлина

The floor-cloth deadened his footsteps as he moved in that direction through the obscurity, which was broken only by the faintest reflected night-light from without.

1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, Part Six, Chapter III:

[…] the man held up two small objects faintly twinkling in the nightlight;

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

Their made-up faces were garish in the night-light and as they walked they stared fixedly ahead, afraid to make a sideways glance in case it should be called soliciting.

1980, William Trevor, chapter 4, in Other People's Worlds, Penguin, published 1982, page 79:

light that shines at night such as moonlight, starlight, etc.


overnight

Inherited from Middle English overnyght, from Old English ofer niht (“through the night, overnight”), equivalent to over + night. Verbal use (late 19th c.) may have been influenced by German übernachten (16th c.), though it could also have developed independently.

inh

over night (alternative)
overnite (alternative)

Let it run overnight and we'll check on it in the morning.

They delivered the package overnight.

I have heard of a man, who having been drunk overnight, and passed over a very narrow Bridge, which no sober Horseman durst attempt, being brought the next day to see what danger he went through, fell down in a swoon upon the sight of it.

1677, N. Ingelo, A Discourse Concerning Repentance, London, page 36:

[…]then put the glass into a damp cellar, on sand, and the gold will overnight shoot into crystals, which take out, and let them dissolve again in distilled vinegar[…].

1765 February, “The Art of Guilding”, in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, volume 36, London: John Hinton, page 81:

There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

Overnight, as the storm bore down on urban flood zones, city officials ramped up emergency spaces to shelter thousands more people, mostly in public schools and colleges.

2012 November 20, Nina Bernstein, “Storm Bared a Lack of Options for the Homeless in New York”, in New York Times:

During or throughout the night, especially during the evening or night just past.

The change seemed to happen overnight.

Overnight, the vivacious young actress became a caricature, a relic of the previous decade, whose hard-partying socialite image seemed frivolous and out of touch amid the ensuing years of the Great Depression.

2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:

"You can't overnight turn everyone into an expert on everything. [...]."

2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:

(figurative) In a very short (but unspecified) amount of time.


overnight

The overnight ferry docked at 10 a.m.


overnight

overnights (plural)
over night (alternative)
overnite (alternative)

Word spread that Barney was on his way out to the location and that the Nielsen overnights had been terrific, or why else would he come.

2000, Dorothy C. Swanson, Story of Viewers For Quality TV: From Grassroots to Prime Time:

The TV critic had the results of the June rating survey by Arbitron and Nielsen. […] He has the hard numbers on the June book plus the recent Nielsen overnights.

(television, in the plural) Viewership ratings for a television show that are published the morning after it is broadcast, and may be revised later on.

Pardon me, madam:
If I had given you this at overnight,
She might have been o'erta'en

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

(obsolete) The fore part of the previous night; yesterday evening.


firewood

en-noun

firewood (countable and uncountable, plural firewoods)

desc

Chinese Pidgin English: firewood, 快也𭉉 (Chinese spelling)

From Middle English ferwode, fyrewoode, equivalent to fire + wood.

After many days of hard work, we finally had enough firewood for the winter.

Wood intended to be burned, typically for heat.

アベチクニ

wood intended to be burned, typically for heat


fire department

en-noun

fire department (plural fire departments)

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(firefighting, US) An organization, often part of a local government, whose purpose is preventing and putting out fires. May provide other emergency services as well.


fire brigade

(firefighting, US) A group of people within a corporation or industrial site, organized for the purpose of putting out fires, usually in addition to their normal job.

فِرْقَة مَطَافِئ

group within a corporation or industrial site

(firefighting, UK, Ireland) An organization, often part of a local government, whose purpose is preventing and putting out fires.

skuadër zjarrfikëse

organization for preventing and putting out fires

foyerwer

borrowed from German, Malmedy region, old


sunshine

sunshine (usually uncountable, plural sunshines)

sunshines (plural)
sun-shine (alternative)

In the Coverdale Bible in 1535, in Genesis and Exodus about 1250 as Middle English sunnesine; synchronically sun + shine. Compare isolated Old English sunsċīn (“mirror”).

We were warmed by the bright sunshine.

Oft tymes a thinge doth floꝛiſh, and men thynke that it maye abyde the Sonneſhyne: it ſhuteth foꝛth the bꝛaunches in his garden, it taketh many rotes, in ſo moch that it is like an houſe off ſtones.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Job viij:[16–17], folio iij, verso, column 1:

And all the ſhrubs, vvith ſparkling ſpangles, ſhevv / Like Morning-Sun-ſhine tinsilling the devv.

1648, Robert Herrick, “The Apparition of His Mistresse Calling Him to Elizium”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 240:

Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get down in the sunshine / Sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine

1976, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”, performed by Roy Ayers Ubiquity:

If there was no sunshine / Then life on Earth would not survive / Just like I would surely die / Without your love

1977, Keith Barrow (lyrics and music), “Precious”, in Keith Barrow:

The direct rays, light or warmth of the sun.

OK, sunshine, listen up and listen good. There's five vandalised telephone boxes out there and I know you're responsible.

(UK, Ireland) Ironic form of address used to an inferior or troublemaker.


bubblegum

bubblegum (countable and uncountable, plural bubblegums)

bubblegums (plural)
bubble gum (alternative)

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(usually uncountable) A sweet chewing gum formulated to be stretchy so the chewer can blow bubbles with it.

Born in the small town of Rockwood, east Tennessee, Carter’s bubblegum sound and mini-bad boy image made him the definitive millennium child star.

2022 November 6, Emma Garland, “Aaron Carter was the millennium’s bubblegum bad boy – and the victim of a rapacious music industry”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(music, sometimes derogatory) A type of pop music marked by sweetness, pep and charm (rather than depth or complexity).

bubblegum:

(countable and uncountable) A light pink colour, like bubblegum.


bubblegum

(by extension) Sweet, perky, or youthful.


all-night

Coordinate term: all-day

an all-night party

Spite of brown-stone trimmings, plate-glass and mosaic vestibule floors, the water does not rise in summer to the second story, while the beer flows unchecked to the all-night picnics on the roof.

1890, Jacob A[ugust] Riis, “The Awakening”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 19:

The former G.E.R. all-night service between Liverpool Street and Chingford, at hourly intervals, is revived.

1961 January, “The North-East London electrification of the Great Eastern Line”, in Trains Illustrated, page 20:

Lasting throughout the whole night (or most of it)


all-nighter

all-nighters (plural)
allnighter (alternative)
all nighter (alternative)

From all-night + -er = all- + night + -er.

That party was an all-nighter.

Something that lasts throughout the whole night.

(specifically) An instance of studying or working throughout the night without sleep.

(UK, crime, slang) A session with a prostitute covering the entire night.

(UK, crime, slang) A client of a prostitute who has paid for the entire night.

(US, crime, slang) A criminal or other person kept in jail over night.


colorless

en-adj

colorless (comparative more colorless, superlative most colorless)

more colorless (comparative)
most colorless (superlative)

The servant to whom he put this question was a young fellow with chubby cheeks, small, dull eyes, and a round chin, covered with a colorless down.

1867, Ivan Sergheïevitch Turgenef [i.e., Ivan Turgenev], chapter I, in Eugene Schuyler, transl., Fathers and Sons […], New York, N.Y.: Leypoldt and Holt, →OCLC, page 1:


fuscous

fuscous (comparative more fuscous, superlative most fuscous)

more fuscous (comparative)
most fuscous (superlative)

From Latin fusc(us) (“dark, dusky”) + -ous.

‘Fresh, fresh, fresh,’ one commented in deep bass on the departing soldier, and the other nodded assent, though in that cave of spoiled air and fuscous lamplight the word ‘fresh’ was misleading […].

1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 140:

Of a dark, brownish-grey color; dark-hued, dusky, swarthy.


ignite

en-verb

ignite (third-person singular simple present ignites, present participle igniting, simple past and past participle ignited)

ignites (present singular third-person)
igniting (participle present)
ignited (participle past)
ignited (past)

From Latin ignītus, past participle of igniō, ignire (“to set on fire, ignite”), from Latin ignis (“fire”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis, and thus related to Sanskrit अग्नि (agní), Lithuanian ugnis, and Russian ого́нь (ogónʹ).

(transitive) to set fire to (something), to light (something)

ignite curiosity

ignite someone's interest

Our observations on the way up had been mixed but the deep, crisp cold of the Peruvian night followed by a crystal clear dawn re-ignited our enthusiasm and sent us scampering across the frozen snow bowl […]

2005, Mick Fowler, On Thin Ice: Alpine Climbs in the Americas, Asia and the Himalaya:

(transitive) to spark off (something), to trigger

to ignite iron or platinum

(chemistry, transitive) To subject to the action of intense heat; to heat strongly; often said of incombustible or infusible substances.


pellucid

en-adj

pellucid (comparative more pellucid, superlative most pellucid)

more pellucid (comparative)
most pellucid (superlative)

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin pellūcidus, perlucidus (“transparent, pellucid; very bright; very understandable”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘through; throughout; completely, thoroughly’) + lūcidus (“clear; full of light, bright, shining; (figuratively) easily understood, clear, lucid”) (from lūceō (“to shine; to become visible, show through; (figuratively) to be apparent, conspicuous, or evident”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)).
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Late Latin pellucidum (“transparent substance”)
* Middle French pellucide (modern French pellucide (“pellucid”))

cog

Blood to the naked Eye appears all red; but by a good Microſcope, vvherein its leſſer parts appear, ſhevvs only ſome fevv Globules of Red, ſvvimming in a pellucid Liquor; and hovv theſe Globules vvould appear, if Glaſſes could be found, that yet could magnifie them 1000, or 10000 times more, is uncertain.

1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Our Complex Ideas of Substances”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, § 11, page 140:

This Cryſtal is a pellucid fiſſile Stone, clear as VVater or Cryſtal of the Rock, and vvithout Colour; enduring a red Heat vvithout loſing its tranſparency, and in a very ſtrong Heat calcining vvithout Fuſion.

a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “[The Third Book of Opticks.] [Qu[estion] 25. Are there not other original Properties of the Rays of Light, besides those already described?]”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. […], 4th edition, London: […] William Innys […], published 1730, →OCLC, page 329:

As a stream, clear and bright, becomes foul with weeds, and stagnates by its distant meanderings from its pure and pellucid source,—so the active imagination, the capacious intellect of Douglas, those high and valuable endowments, had, by an undue use of them, been perverted.

1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 308–309:

The sea was shining like a sheet of glass, […] and the bright sea-weeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems.

1857, Robert Michael Ballantyne, chapter XVI, in The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, published 1859, →OCLC, page 147:

You cannot think what figs / My teeth have met in, / What melons icy-cold / Piled on a dish of gold / Too huge for me to hold, / What peaches with a velvet nap, / Pellucid grapes without one seed: […]

1862, Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 10:

The thick vegetation met overhead, interlacing into a natural pergola, and through this tunnel of verdure in a golden twilight flowed the green, pellucid river, beautiful in itself, but marvelous from the strange tints thrown by the vivid light from above filtered and tempered in its fall.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘The Outlying Pickets of the New World’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, pages 119–120:

Most of the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff where the beach was hollowed out it was four or five feet deep. It was to this part that a swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a beautiful pellucid green pool as clear as crystal.

1926 November 27, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 255:

Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.

прозрачен

allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent

Written in spare, pellucid prose, the book reads like a close-to-the-bone memoir.

1994 November 13, Fritz Lanham, The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Tex.: Houston Chronicle Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC:

[Y]ou never receive me apart from the grammar that establishes my availability to you. If I treat that grammar as pellucid, then I fail to call attention precisely to that sphere of language that establishes and disestablishes intelligibility, and that would be precisely to thwart my own project as I have described it to you here.

1999, Judith Butler, “Preface (1999)”, in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon., published 2015, →ISBN, page xxvi:

(figuratively)
Easily understood; clear.

(archaic) Easily recognized or seen through; apparent, obvious.


pellucid

A Pellucid is not ſeen, but percieved^([sic]) by the privation of Colour. So vve ſee not Air in Air, VVater in VVater, Glaſs in Glaſs, and every Pellucid in an equal Pellucid; and becauſe vve knovv they are not coloured, vve count them to be diaphanous, viz. that may be ſeen, or ſhone thorough.

1729, [Johann Jacob Hainlin], “Of the Vision of Pellucidity or Shining through”, in Venterus Mandey, transl., Synopsis Mathematica Universalis: Or, A Brief System of Mathematics, […], [3rd] edition, London: […] A. Ward, […], →OCLC, paragraph 1, page 686:

The true Aſtroites, vvhich in the ſun-ſhine throvvs out a briſk light radiating from one certain point, belongs to the claſs of Pellucids.

[1735?], Herman Boerhaave, “Being a Delineation of the Theory. [Of Stones.]”, in [anonymous], transl., Elements of Chemistry. Being the Annual Lectures of Hermann Boerhaave, M.D. […], volume I, London: […] J. Clarke […], and S. Austen […]; and sold by J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 33:

(obsolete, rare) Something which allows the passage of light; a translucent or transparent object.


fire hose

fire hoses (plural)
firehose (alternative)

An fast-flowing unsupported flow of lava escaping from a solid rockface.


heliocentrism

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Shortened from heliocentricism, from heliocentric + -ism, from Ancient Greek ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “sun”) + κέντρον (kéntron, “centre”), equivalent to helio- + -centrism.

You would think the practitioners of the dismal science of economics would look at their demand curves and the data on incomes and taxes and pronounce a verdict, the way Galileo and Copernicus did when they showed that geocentrism was a fantasy because the Earth revolves around the sun (known as heliocentrism).

2012, David Cay Johnston, chapter 16, in Dean Starkman, Felix Salmon, Martha M. Hamilton, Ryan Chittum, editors, The Best Business Writing 2012, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 191:

Heliocentrism is not yet universally known or accepted. In a 1999 poll, 18 of Americans said that the sun revolves around the Earth, while 79 percent said Earth revolves around the sun.

2014, Rebecca Stefoff, chapter 4, in Andrew Coddington, Cynthia Roby, Peter Mavrikis, editors, The Sun and the Earth, 1st edition, New York: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC, →ISBN, page 34:

(informal) The phenomenon of the Earth revolving around the Sun.


photosynthesis

en-noun

photosynthesis (usually uncountable, plural photosyntheses)

[ˌfəʊ.tʰəʊˈsɪn̪.θə.sɪs]

[ˌfŏʊ.ɾoʊˈsɪn̪.θə.sɪs]

ışık yardımı ile besin biriktirme süreci

Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

(biochemistry, organic chemistry) Any process by which plants and other photoautotrophs convert light energy into chemical energy.

principally, oxygenic photosynthesis, any process by which plants and algae convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

also, non-oxygenic photosynthesis, used by purple and green bacteria, heliobacteria, and acidobacteria.


dextrorotatory

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Dexibuprofen is the active dextrorotatory enantiomer of ibuprofen.

(chemistry, of an optically active compound or crystal) That rotates the plane of polarized light to the right, or clockwise. Notation: (+) or formerly lowercase d-.

dekstrorotatorinen

that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right


levorotatory

laevorotatory (alternative)
lævorotatory (alternative)

Levofloxacin is the levorotatory enantiomer of the medication ofloxacin.

(chemistry) (of an optically active compound or crystal) That rotates the plane of polarized light to the left, or counter-clockwise. Notation: (−) or formerly lowercase l-.

lévogyre

that rotates the plane of polarized light to the left


solar

From Late Middle English solar, from Latin sōlāris, from sōl (“sun”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”).

and proud beside, as solar people are

1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(astrology, obsolete) Born under the predominant influence of the sun.

a solar furnace


solar

He’s a player in robots and solar, cryptocurrency and climate, brain-computer implants to stave off the menace of artificial intelligence and underground tunnels to move people and freight at super speeds.

December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine:


glare

glare (countable and uncountable, plural glares)

From Middle English glaren, from Old English *glærian, from Proto-West Germanic *glāʀōn. Cognate with dialectal Middle Dutch glariën (“to glisten; sparkle”), Low German glaren (“to shine brightly; glow; burn”), Middle High German glaren (“to shine brightly”). Related to glower, glass.

cog

the frame of burnished steel that cast a glare

1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(uncountable) An intense, blinding light.


glare

en-verb

glare (third-person singular simple present glares, present participle glaring, simple past and past participle glared)

glares (present singular third-person)
glaring (participle present)
glared (participle past)
glared (past)

Every eye glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire.

1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

(transitive) To shoot out, or emit, as a dazzling light.

loistaa

to shoot out, or emit, as a dazzling light


amaranth

en-noun

amaranth (countable and uncountable, plural amaranths)

amaranths (plural)
amarant (alternative)

Borrowed from French amarante, or directly from its etymon Latin amarantus (the word ending influenced by plant names derived from Ancient Greek ἄνθος (ánthos, “a bloom, blossom, flower”)), from Ancient Greek ἀμάραντος (amárantos, “eternal, undying, unfading, unwilting; amaranth; everlasting flower”) (modern Greek αμάραντος (amárantos)), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, the alpha privativum, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + μαραίνω (maraínō, “to shrivel, wither”) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming adjectives).

edible amaranth

Chinese amaranth, Ganges amaranth, willow-leaf amaranth; Amaranthus tricolor

Amaranth, the most common red food colour in both the US and UK, was banned last week in the US after a study suggested that it caused cancer in rats. […] The situation is confused, however, because the test rats were mixed up with the controls in the US tests, and because some tests have indicated hazards while similar tests show the dye to be safe. In April 1975, the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) gave amaranth temporary approval through 1978.

1976 January 29, “US Bans Commonest Red Food Colour”, in Bernard Dixon, editor, New Scientist, volume 69, number 985, London: New Science Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 234, column 1:

Amaranth is a red azo-dye with the chemical name trisodium 2-hydroxyl-1-(4-sulfonato-1-naphthylazo)naphthalene-3,6-disulfonate […]. Amaranth appears to be relatively unstable in solution and in processed food. Biscuits containing Amaranth showed a loss of 39–45% promoted by the use of baking soda, sucrose, and dextrose. The degradation of Amaranth may lead to the presence of naphthenic acid equivalent to the loss of Amaranth.

2015, J. König, “Food Colour Additives of Synthetic Origin”, in Michael J. Scotter, editor, Colour Additives for Foods and Beverages (Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition; no. 279), Amsterdam: Elsevier; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Woodhead Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (Development and Regulatory Issues for Food Colourings), section 2.2.4 (Amaranth), page 41:

(organic chemistry) A red to purple azo dye used as a biological stain, and in some countries in cosmetics and as a food colouring. See Amaranth (dye).


perse

en-noun

perse (countable and uncountable, plural perses)

From Middle English pers, from Old French, from Medieval Latin persus, back-formed from Persicus (“Persian”), from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós).

A very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.


perse

Very dark greyish (almost blackish) purple or blue.


perse

en-verb

perse (third-person singular simple present perses, present participle persing, simple past and past participle persed or perst)

perses (present singular third-person)
persing (participle present)
persed (participle past)
persed (past)
perst (participle past)
perst (past)


sable

en-noun

sable (countable and uncountable, plural sables)

sables (plural)
sa. (alternative)
s. (alternative)

Attested since 1275, from Middle English sable, from Old French sable and martre sable (“sable marten”), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Medieval Latin sabelum, from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from a Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).

sable (heraldry):

(heraldry) A black colour on a coat of arms (Wikipedia).


sable

en-adj

sable (comparative sabler, superlative sablest)

sabler (comparative)
sablest (superlative)
sa. (alternative)
s. (alternative)

(heraldry): In blazon, of the colour black.

Some of the sable females, who formerly stood aloof, now began to relax and appear less coy; but my heart was still fixed on London, where I hoped to be ere long.

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 7, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:

Ethnologists are in the wrong / About our sable brothers[.]

1880 June 19, Henry Kendall, “My Piccaninny”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 28, column 4:

Of this one of the drovers writes thus: - "Very soon there will be homesteads and stations dotted all over the Territory within easy distances of one another, driving our sable brethren from their ancient hunting grounds."

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 281:

For twelve long months I had to pace, / Humping my swag with a cadging face, / Sleeping in the bush, like the sable race.

1905, Banjo Paterson, Old Bush Songs, page 40:

(archaic, literary) Dark-skinned; Black.


pyromania

en-noun

pyromania (usually uncountable, plural pyromanias)

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/ˌpaɪɹə(ʊ)ˈmeɪnɪə/

(psychology) A compulsive disorder characterized by obsession with fire or uncontrollable urges to start fires.


fire company

(firefighting, US) An organization whose purpose is to extinguish fires.

brannvesen

an organization whose purpose is to extinguish fires

(firefighting, US) A single emergency response unit and its personnel within a fire department


lightning conductor

lightning conductor (plural lightning conductors)

(UK) A metallic conductor that is attached to a high point of a building and leads to the ground and protects the building from damage by lightning.


sizzle

sizzle (countable and uncountable, plural sizzles)

Probably a derivative of Middle English sissen (“to hiss; buzz; hum”), equivalent to siss + -le (frequentative suffix).


eggplant

en-noun

eggplant (countable and uncountable, plural eggplants)

eggplants (plural)
egg-plant (alternative)

From egg + plant, originally applied only to the white-colored, egg-shaped variety.

Solanum melongena
Solanum melongena#Translingual

(Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines) The plant Solanum melongena.


aubergine

aubergine (countable and uncountable, plural aubergines)

Bislama: obesin

Unadapted borrowing from French aubergine, from Catalan albergínia, from Arabic اَلْبَاذِنْجَان (al-bāḏinjān, “the aubergine”), from Persian بادنجان (bâdenjân), from باتنجان (bâtenjân), from Sanskrit वातिगगम (vātigagama, “the plant that cures the wind”), cognate with Malayalam വഴുതന (vaḻutana). Doublet of brinjal.

der

اَلْبَاذِنْجَان

(British, Ireland) An Asian plant, Solanum melongena, cultivated for its edible purple, green, or white ovoid fruit; eggplant.

(British, Ireland) The fruit of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.

aubergine:


blue-black

blue-black:


blue-black

en-adj

blue-black (comparative more blue-black, superlative most blue-black)

more blue-black (comparative)
most blue-black (superlative)


glower

glowers (plural)
glour (alternative)
glowr (alternative)

From an alteration (possibly Scots) of glore, from Middle English glōren, glouren (“to gleam; to glare, glower”); or from glow (“to stare”) (obsolete), and ultimately from a Scandinavian (North Germanic) language. Cognate with Low German gloren (“to flicker; to glimmer”), Dutch gloren, Icelandic glóra. See more at glare.

cog

She sure has an awful glower on her face.

[H]e [Rab, a dog] growled and gave now and then a sharp impatient yelp; he would have liked to have done something to that man. But James had him firm, and gave him a glower from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick;—all the better for James, it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie.

1862, John Brown, “Rab and His Friends”, in Spare Hours, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 33:

"I thought we could go a bit farther to the back pasture. You can get a better view." / "Of the extensive Bannister estate?" she said with a wry tone. / "Of the ranch," he said, a glower showing her that he didn't fully appreciate her comment.

2015, Carolyne Aarsen, chapter 6, in The Cowboy’s Homecoming (Love Inspired Books), New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 89:

"Enough," Nathaniel repeated as he kept a tight hold on their suspenders. "What's been said was said. What's been done has been done. It's over. Let is go." / The glowers the boys gave him warned Nathaniel that he was wasting his breath.

2016, Jo Ann Brown, chapter 1, in His Amish Sweetheart (Love Inspired Books; Amish Hearts; 3), New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN:


glower

From Middle English glouere, equivalent to glow + -er.

Table 45 presents computed relative and absolute values for the spectral radiant emittance of a Nernst glower at T = 1965 and 2000°K (the corresponding emissivities are 0.427 and 0.438).

1968, Mikaél’ A[bramovič] Bramson, “Special Infrared Sources”, in Richard B. Rodman, transl., edited by William L. Wolfe, Infrared Radiation: A Handbook for Applications: With a Collection of Reference Tables (Optical Physics and Engineering), New York, N.Y.: Plenum Press, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, 2013, →DOI, →ISBN, § 3 (Infrared Incandescent Lamps), page 274:


Helios

From Ancient Greek Ἥλιος (Hḗlios), from ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”).

(Greek mythology) The god of the Sun; son of Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selene and Eos, father of Phaeton amongst others. His Roman counterpart is Sol.


Hephaestus

From Ancient Greek Ἥφαιστος (Hḗphaistos), a pre-Greek word of unknown origin.

(Greek mythology) The god of fire, smithwork, metallurgy, volcanoes, and artisans, who served as blacksmith of the gods. His Roman counterpart is Vulcan.


Vesta

From Middle English Vesta, from Latin Vesta, related to Ancient Greek ἑστία (hestía, “to dwell”) and Ἑστία (Hestía, “Hestia”), all from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-; see also Old High German and Old English wesan (“to be”), Gothic wisan, Sanskrit वसति (vasati, “abide dwell”).
Vesta itself came to mean chaste, pure, or virgin, based from this goddess.

(Roman mythology) The virgin goddess of the hearth, fire, and the household, and therefore a deity of domestic life. The Roman counterpart of Hestia.

A female given name from Latin in occasional use.

(astronomy) The fourth asteroid discovered, and second largest, (4) Vesta.


flare

→ Italian: flare

Origin unknown, first recorded in the mid 16th century, probably related to Latin flagrō (“I burn”). Norwegian flara (“to blaze; to flaunt in gaudy attire”) has a similar meaning, but the English word predates it. Possibly related to Middle High German vlederen (“to flutter”), represented by modern German flattern.
The noun is derived from the verb.

unknown

Origin unknown

Stulp

widening of an object with otherwise roughly constant width

разкрояване

widening of the lower legs of trousers and jeans

Flares were used to steer the traffic away from the accident.

The flares attracted the heat-seeking missiles.

Stowed away in the plane Jack had a signal pistol and several red and green cartridges, but until a search plane appeared the flares would be useless.

1946, Clayton Knight, The Quest of the Golden Condor, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 262:

While he was putting on the snowplough, the Whites shot up a flare to see what was happening. It floated above us like a fizzing star at the end of a tiny white petal of a parachute. We threw ourselves down, in between the rails, in there with the dog shit.

2009, James Fleming, chapter 55, in Cold Blood, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2010, →ISBN, page 262:

A source of brightly burning light or intense heat.

A type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light without an explosion, used to attract attention in an emergency, to illuminate an area, or as a decoy.

Flare stacks are used in gas plants, petroleum refineries, and petrochemical plants to combust surplus hydrocarbons to produce combustion products that are neither toxic nor combustible. Flares frequently incorporate a liquid-gas separator at the base of the stack and steam assisted burner nozzles at the top of the stack to aid complete combustion.

2013, David Brennan, “Identification of Waste in Utility Systems”, in Sustainable Process Engineering: Concepts, Strategies, Evaluation, and Implementation, Singapore: Pan Stanford Publishing, →ISBN, part B (Strategies), section 6.8 (Flare Stacks), page 122:

(oil industry) A flame produced by a burn-off of waste gas (flare gas) from a flare tower (or flare stack), typically at an oil refinery.

solar flare

I was looking in the direction of the lightship off and on from the time we first sighted her. I could not be mistaken in such a matter as a flare-up light. By a flare-up light I mean a large bright light waved in the air, something like a torch dipped in resin and waved about. I am prepared to say that any person who has sworn that she shewed a flare-up light from the lightship while the Kanagawa Maru was passing has perjured himself.

1876 January 28, “Japanese Consulate General, Shanghai. Before E. Shinagawa, Esq., Consul-General. Jan. 22, 1876. Capt. Roper v. Mitsu Bishi Mail S.S. Co.”, in The Japan Mail. A Fortnightly Summary of Intelligence from Japan, […], volume VII, number 9, Yokohama: Printed and published for the proprietor by H. Collins, […

[T]he forward deck near the house was all saturated with spilt oil and there was a quantity of oakum lying about, some of which possibly had been used for flares or distress signals.

1913 December 13, “The Inquest Resumed. [Captain Froggatt’s Report.]”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2418, Shanghai: Printed and published for the proprietors, The North-China Daily News & Herald, Ltd., […], →OCLC, page 807, column 2:

In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 87–88:

We made a movie picture by the use of flares, the brilliant light startling the blacks, but their surprise quickly gave way to enthusiasm,—just another of the white bwana's magic powers.

1926, Edwin S. George, “African Nights”, in Cairo to Cape: Four Afoot through Africa, New York, N.Y.: The Knickerbocker Press, →OCLC, page 195:

The white light during M dwarf flares has long been known to exhibit the broadband shape of a T ≈ 10 000 K blackbody, and the white light in solar-flares is thought to arise primarily from hydrogen recombination. Yet, a current lack of broad-wavelength coverage solar flare spectra in the optical/near-UV region prohibits a direct comparison of the continuum properties to determine if they are indeed so different. New spectroscopic observations of a secondary flare during the decay of a megaflare on the dM4.5e star YZ CMi have revealed multiple components in the white-light continuum of stellar flares, including both a blackbody-like spectrum and a hydrogen-recombination spectrum.

2012 March, A. F. Kowalski, S. L. Hawley, J. A. Holtzmann, J. P. Wisniewski, E. J. Hilton, “The Multiple Continuum Components in the White-light Flare of 16 January 2009 on the dM4.5e Star YZ CMi”, in Solar Physics, volume 277, number 1, →DOI, page 21; republished in Yuhong Fan and George Fisher, editors, Solar Flare Magnetic Fields and Plasmas, New York, N.Y., Dordrecht: Springer, 2012, →ISBN, abstract, page 21:

In the early 1970's, a giddy epoch in men's fashion, when denim flares and platform oxfords were the outer edge of style, Giorgio Armani made a suit that stretched. Imbued with spandex, the elastic fiber that gives a fabric extra bounce, the suit was one of the first in a long line of innovations that would eventually make Armani as familiar a brand as Kleenex.

1991 September 15, Ruth La Ferla, “Next weave”, in The New York Times Magazine, archived from the original on 2018-08-20:

As a teenager I hitch-hiked around free rock concerts, wearing flowered shirts and denim flares – jeans that were worn so much, in such rough conditions, and with so little attention to washing and care that after a while they became naturally abraded and frayed in just the manner that is simulated by commerce today.

2012, Daniel Miller, “Why Denim?”, in Consumption and Its Consequences, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, →ISBN, page 94:

The defect in question is the flare which frequently arises from the use of compound lenses when there is a very bright object in front, resulting in a ghost-like image of that object being thrown upon the plate. If the image of the object thus duplicated be in focus we designate it a "ghost;" if out of focus we call it "flare."

1874 October 23, “On Certain Defects in Combination Landscape Lenses”, in The British Journal of Photography, volume XXI, number 755, London: Henry Greenwood, […], →OCLC, page 515, column 1:


flare

en-verb

flare (third-person singular simple present flares, present participle flaring, simple past and past participle flared)

flares (present singular third-person)
flaring (participle present)
flared (participle past)
flared (past)

unknown

Origin unknown

Qatar joined the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction programme in early 2008, indicating its commitment to reducing the process of flaring the gas found with oil deposits.

2008, “Going Green: The Country is Keen to Increase Its Environmental Credentials”, in The Report: Qatar 2008, [s.l.]: Oxford Business Group, →ISBN, marginal note, page 247:

One time I was working with the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) on fueling their fleet, and I was surprised to see them flaring the methane at their wastewater facility.

2013 April, Blair L. Pollock, “Doing New Things”, in Lyle Estill, editor, Small Stories Big Changes: Agents of Change on the Frontlines of Sustainability, Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, →ISBN, page 147:

(transitive) To cause to burn; in particular, to burn off excess gas.

The blast furnace flared in the night.

Thou rear'st thy stately neck, / And, while I list, thou flarest in men's eyes / A gorgeous queen; […]

1802, Joanna Baillie, “Ethwald: A Tragedy, in Five Acts. Part Second.”, in A Series of Plays: In which It is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene v, page 351:

And when Slaughter and Pillage begin to tire, / High flareth red Fire! / How he roars and hisses and flashes! / His frenzy soon turns / The proud pile to a mass of grey ashes, […]

1846 June, “Anthologia Germanica, No. XXII. Uhland’s Ballads.”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XXVII, number CLXII, Dublin: James McGlashan, […]; London: W[illiam] S[omerville] Orr and Company, →OCLC, page 678:

This phrase was "Flare up!" and it is, even now, a colloquialism in common use. It took its rise in the time of the Reform riots, when Bristol was nearly half burned by the infuriated populace. The flames were said to have flared up in the devoted city.

1850, Charles Mackay, “Popular Follies in Great Cities”, in Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lindsay and Blackiston, →OCLC, page 218:

Now spent night her watchers spareth, / Now the sun's bright banner flareth, / Now morn's gale day's trump is blowing.

1860, R[obert] W[ilson] Evans, “XV. Christian Battle.”, in Daily Hymns, London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, page 38:

On he went a few paces and touched a second, then a third, and a fourth, till at last we were surrounded on all three sides by a great ring of bodies flaring furiously, the material with which they were preserved having rendered them so inflammable that the flames would literally spout out of the ears and mouth in tongues of fire a foot or more in length.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:


tinder

en-noun

tinder (countable and uncountable, plural tinders)

From Middle English tinder, tunder, tender, tonder, from Old English tynder, from Proto-Germanic *tundrą, *tundrǭ (“tinder”). Compare Saterland Frisian Tunder (“tinder”), Dutch tonder (“tinder”), German Zunder (“tinder”), Swedish tända (“to light, to set on fire”). More at tind.

cog

Strike on the Tinder, hoa: / Giue me a Taper: […]

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311, line 157:

Small dry sticks and finely-divided fibrous matter etc., used to help light a fire.


burgundy

en-adj

burgundy (comparative more burgundy, superlative most burgundy)

more burgundy (comparative)
most burgundy (superlative)

1881, from attributive use of Burgundy (“wine from Burgundy”) from Burgundy wine, from Burgundy (“region of France”) + wine.

She and her beige-chemised assistant entered the salonlike fourth-floor showroom and were ushered into a smaller private room with burgundy carpeting that matched Rubylee's J. Tiktiner print dress.

1981, “Texas Monthly”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 9, number 1, page 96:

Of a deep purple red color like that of Burgundy wine.


virid

virid (comparative more virid, superlative most virid)

more virid (comparative)
most virid (superlative)

From Middle English viride (“verdigris”, adjective, noun) [and other forms] + English -id (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives and nouns). Viride is borrowed from Latin viridis (“green; (figuratively) fresh; lively; young, youthful”), from vireō (“to be green or verdant; to sprout new green growth; to flourish; to be lively or vigorous”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to procreate; to produce; to increase; to raise”). Doublet of verdant and vert.

der

Her tombe vvas not of viride Spartane greet, / Nor yet by cunning hand of Scopas vvrought, / But built of poliſht ſtone, and thereon laid / The liuely ſhape and purtrait of the maid.

1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Twelfth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 94, page 231:

The palace here, and there a virid mound, / Confine a flow'ry ſpot of graſſy ground.

1758, [James Macpherson], The Highlander: […], Edinburgh: […] Wal[ter] Ruddiman jun. and Company, →OCLC, canto IV, page 52:

Virid fields would heave brownly under their ploughs; they would find that with practice it was almost as easy to chuckle as it was to cringe.

1921 October, James Branch Cabell, “The Story of the Satraps”, in Chivalry: Dizain des Reines, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Robert M[edill] McBride & Company, page 170:

His protuberant eyeballs were veined with red like certain kinds of rare marble. He urged me to meditate upon the virid line of the whirling universe.

1977, Angela Carter, chapter 2, in The Passion of New Eve, London: Virago Press, published 1992, →ISBN, page 13:

When the liver has been struck by wind, the victim desires only to squat down and is unable even to lower his head. If the skin around the eyes and on the forehead has taken on a slightly virid hue, the lips have turned virid, and the face yellow, treatment is still possible. […] If, however, the color is a deeply virid or even black and if the face is sometimes yellow and sometimes white, the liver has already suffered irreparable harm.

1985, Paul U[lrich] Unschuld, “[Appendix: Primary Texts in Translation] Chu-ping yüan hou lun”, in Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care), Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, section 3.1 (Symptomatology of [the Illness] “Hit-by-Wind”), page 297: