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Northern lights   /nˈɔrðərn laɪts/   Listen
noun
Light  n.  
1.
That agent, force, or action in nature by the operation of which upon the organs of sight, objects are rendered visible or luminous. Note: Light was regarded formerly as consisting of material particles, or corpuscules, sent off in all directions from luminous bodies, and traversing space, in right lines, with the known velocity of about 186,300 miles per second; but it is now generally understood to consist, not in any actual transmission of particles or substance, but in the propagation of vibrations or undulations in a subtile, elastic medium, or ether, assumed to pervade all space, and to be thus set in vibratory motion by the action of luminous bodies, as the atmosphere is by sonorous bodies. This view of the nature of light is known as the undulatory or wave theory; the other, advocated by Newton (but long since abandoned), as the corpuscular, emission, or Newtonian theory. A more recent theory makes light to consist in electrical oscillations, and is known as the electro-magnetic theory of light.
2.
That which furnishes, or is a source of, light, as the sun, a star, a candle, a lighthouse, etc. "Then he called for a light, and sprang in." "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night."
3.
The time during which the light of the sun is visible; day; especially, the dawn of day. "The murderer, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy."
4.
The brightness of the eye or eyes. "He seemed to find his way without his eyes; For out o'door he went without their helps, And, to the last, bended their light on me."
5.
The medium through which light is admitted, as a window, or window pane; a skylight; in architecture, one of the compartments of a window made by a mullion or mullions. "There were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks."
6.
Life; existence. "O, spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!"
7.
Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity. "The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light."
8.
The power of perception by vision. "My strength faileth me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me."
9.
That which illumines or makes clear to the mind; mental or spiritual illumination; enlightenment; knowledge; information. "He shall never know That I had any light of this from thee."
10.
Prosperity; happiness; joy; felicity. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily."
11.
(Paint.) The manner in which the light strikes upon a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade. Cf. Chiaroscuro.
12.
Appearance due to the particular facts and circumstances presented to view; point of view; as, to state things fairly and put them in the right light. "Frequent consideration of a thing... shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance."
13.
One who is conspicuous or noteworthy; a model or example; as, the lights of the age or of antiquity. "Joan of Arc, A light of ancient France."
14.
(Pyrotech.) A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or colored flame; as, a Bengal light. Note: Light is used figuratively to denote that which resembles physical light in any respect, as illuminating, benefiting, enlightening, or enlivening mankind.
Ancient lights (Law), Calcium light, Flash light, etc. See under Ancient, Calcium, etc.
Light ball (Mil.), a ball of combustible materials, used to afford light; sometimes made so as to be fired from a cannon or mortar, or to be carried up by a rocket.
Light barrel (Mil.), an empty power barrel pierced with holes and filled with shavings soaked in pitch, used to light up a ditch or a breach.
Light dues (Com.), tolls levied on ships navigating certain waters, for the maintenance of lighthouses.
Light iron, a candlestick. (Obs.)
Light keeper, a person appointed to take care of a lighthouse or light-ship.
Light money, charges laid by government on shipping entering a port, for the maintenance of lighthouses and light-ships.
The light of the countenance, favor; kindness; smiles. "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us."
Northern lights. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.
To bring to light, to cause to be disclosed.
To come to light, to be disclosed.
To see the light, to come into the light; hence, to come into the world or into public notice; as, his book never saw the light.
To stand in one's own light, to take a position which is injurious to one's own interest.


adjective
Northern  adj.  
1.
Of or pertaining to the north; being in the north, or nearer to that point than to the east or west.
2.
In a direction toward the north; as, to steer a northern course; coming from the north; as, a northern wind.
Northern diver. (Zool.) See Loon.
Northern lights. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.
Northern spy (Bot.), an excellent American apple, of a yellowish color, marked with red.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Northern lights" Quotes from Famous Books



... Again the silence. The northern lights flashed and swept in fantastic shapes across the sky, illuminating the fir tops in the valley and making the white lichens gleam on the barren hill above us. We thought of the lake ahead with its old wigwams, and the promise it held out of an easy trail to Michikamau ...
— The Lure of the Labrador Wild • Dillon Wallace
... none of you are familiar with the far North, where it is day six months of the year and night the other six. But though the sun does not shine, don't think for a moment that we live in pitch darkness, for the stars and the Northern Lights make our nights most beautiful. In fact, they are more beautiful and varied than our days. Instead of the blazing rays of the sun that blind one, we have the ever varied, many colored rays of the ...
— Billy Whiskers' Adventures • Frances Trego Montgomery
... "Northern lights and moonshine!" growled Alderman Van Beverout, for it was no other than the uncle of the heiress, whose untimely and unexpected visit had caused her so much alarm. "This sky-watching, and turning of night into day, will ...
— The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas • James Fenimore Cooper
... intellect into the human nature of the author. But nowhere could illustrations be found more interesting—shy, delicate, evanescent—shy as lightning, delicate and evanescent as the colored pencillings on a frosty night from the northern lights, than in the ...
— Biographical Essays • Thomas de Quincey
... Ayrshire sloops danced like bobbins on the water; past the isles, where overhead drove the wedges of the wild swans, trumpeting as on a battle-field; past the Hebrides, where strange arctic birds whined like hurt dogs; northward still to where the northern lights sprang like dancers in the black winter nights; eastward and southward to where the swell of the Dogger Bank rose, where the fish grazed like kine. Over the great sea he would go as though nothing had happened, not even the snapping of a stay—down to the sea, where the crisp winds ...
— The Wind Bloweth • Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne


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