auroral, a.
(ɔːˈrɔərəl)
[f. prec. + -al1.]
1. Of or pertaining to the dawn, eastern; fig. of or pertaining to the rise or first period of anything.
| 1552 Lyndesay Monarche Prol. 148 Quhose donke impurpurit vestiment nocturnall..He [Phebus] lefte in tyll his regioun aurorall. 1854 Badham Halieut. 529 To have begun the day with a..crust..like the French auroral ‘biscuit de Rheims.’ 1878 P. Bayne Purit. Rev. ix. 361 Auroral splendours of promise..which accompany all revolutions in their earlier stages. 1879 J. Todhunter Alcestis 61 To paint the auroral mysteries of the dawn. |
2. Like the dawn in colour, brightness, freshness, soft beauty, etc.; dawning, roseate, rosy.
| 1827 Carlyle Misc. I. 41 The auroral light of Tasso. 1863 Longfellow Falc. Federigo 151 Her cheeks suffused with an auroral blush. 1883 R. Noel in Academy No. 577. 365/3 A radiance in auroral spirits now. |
3. Of or pertaining to the aurora (borealis).
| 1828 in Webster. 1851–9 Sir J. Herschel in Adm. Man. Sc. Enq. 161 Note also the meteors..within the auroral region. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. I. xxxi. 421 A true and unbroken auroral arch. 1872 Proctor Ess. Astron. xiii. 179 The extreme height of the auroral light. |
4. Resembling the aurora in its coruscations.
| 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 136 Auroral flashings of wit. 1882 Myers Renew. Youth 222 Hast thou..Marked in her eyes those gleams auroral play? |