noctiˈlucous, a. rare.
[f. noctiluca + -ous.]
Shining at night, phosphorescent.
| 1681–2 Boyle App. Aerial Noctiluca 1 Till more Noctilucous Matter could be prepared. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. II. Voy. Hebrides 345 Myriads of noctilucous Nereids that inhabit the ocean..and..give a fine light. 1777 ― Brit. Zool. (ed. 2) IV. 38 Nereis Noctilucous. These are the animals that illuminate the sea, like glow-worms. 1832 Macgillivray Trav. Humboldt xi. (1836) 131 The thorny bushes covered with noctilucous insects. |