translucency
(trɑːnsˈl(j)uːsənsɪ, træns-, -nz-)
[f. next: see -ency: cf. tralucency.]
The quality or condition of being translucent; partial transparency: see quot. 1842. Also fig.
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Whore Wks. ii. 111/1 So one glance or glimpse of the translucencie of your eyes sun-dazeling corruscancy. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. 52 Ice..its atoms are not concreted into continuity, which doth diminish its translucency. 1831 Faraday Exp. Res. xlvi. 339 Different degrees of colour or translucency. 1842 Brande Dict. Sc., etc., Translucency, semitransparency. The term is chiefly used in descriptive mineralogy as applied to minerals which admit of a passage of the rays of light, but through which objects cannot be definitely distinguished. 1879 Calderwood Mind & Br. 61 A chamber filled with a clear watery fluid, essential for the translucency of the external portion of the eye. |