▪ I. shining, vbl. n.
(ˈʃaɪnɪŋ)
[f. shine v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb shine; emission or shedding of light; gleaming, beaming.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter cix. 3 In schinenges of haliyhes bright [Vulg. in splendoribus sanctorum]. 13.. K. Alis. 641 (Bodl. MS.) Þe erþe shook, þe see bycom grene, Þe sonne wiþdrouȝ shynyng shene. 13.. Cursor M. 23688 (Gött.) Þe schene schining of cristal. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xli. (Tollem. MS.), Schinynge is out spryngynge and stremynge oute of þe substaunce of lyȝte. c 1400 Destr. Troy 919 For chynyng of the chene stone he shont with his hede. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxvi. 117 The moyn and starnes of shynyng blan. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 265 b, He..might spie sometimes..the shining of armour, like flashing of lightning. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 560 Grashoppers doe..come in such quantitie that they intercept the shining of the Sunne like a Cloud. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. iii. iii, I've seen with shining fair the morning rise. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. v, Harry could see the shining of a steel breastplate he had on. 1852 M. Arnold Self-Depend. vi, With joy the stars perform their shining. 1905 F. Young Sands of Pleasure ii. viii, The cold, alert shining of her eyes. |
b. transf. and fig.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. ii. (1868) 67 Yif that dignitees lesen hir shyninge by chaunginge of tymes. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. vii. (1544) 10 b, Whan his shining was waxt vp to y⊇ ful After the chaunge of fortunes lawe His glorye gan discrecen. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 127 Men of vertue suppressed, lest their shining should discouer the others filthines. Ibid. iii. 249 Our trust is that you yet will not denie the shining of your eies vpon vs. 1656 Artif. Handsom. 129 All their Oratorious polishings and shinings are but false beames. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) II. 5 We are but as dark as we were before; for we were none of us the better for all your hypocritical shining. a 1778 Toplady in Bk. Praise (1866) 446 The shinings of His grace Soften my passage through the wilderness. |
| attrib. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) IV. 64 The time of Adversity is your Shining-time. |
▪ II. shining, ppl. a.
(ˈʃaɪnɪŋ)
[f. shine v. + -ing2.]
1. a. That shines; luminous, lustrous, gleaming, beaming; also, of bright or brilliant aspect or exterior; resplendent in dress or equipment.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 22 Nov. 208 Þa stod se engel biᵹ hyre myd scynendum fyðerum. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 431/23 Limpidis, scinendum. a 1225 Ancr. R. 224 ‘Demonium meridianum’, þet is, briht schininde deouel. c 1275 Serving Christ 18 in O.E. Misc. 91 In schynynde wede. 1382 Wyclif Lam. iv. 7 Whitere is Nazareis than snoȝ, shynendere [1388 schynyngere] than mylc. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 559 Bot I the knew, that is sa schynand. 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. xxi. (S.T.S.) I. 215 Þai war iij{supc} and vj knichtis in schynyng armoure. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 40 The cleir schenand sonne. 1565 J. Phillip Patient Grissell 702, I nether haue faire Helins shape, nor comly shininge hew. 1626 Bacon Sylva §352 Shining woods, being laid in a Dry Roome,..lose their Shining. 1664 Sir R. Howard & Dryden Ind. Queen ii. i, Showres sometimes fall upon a shining day. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 401 Fish..with thir Finns & shining Scales. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 559 Tiles..of a deep shining Black. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xiii. I. 377 A bag of shining leather filled with pearls. 1825 Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. x. III. 183 A bright shining house-maid. 1845 Kitto Cycl. Bibl. Lit. s.v. Egypt, The climate is..exceedingly hot; the atmosphere clear and shining. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. ix, On a shining chestnut horse. Ibid. ii. iii, That busy, shining scene of the Thames swarming with boats and barges. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 21 All covered with shining snow. |
b. as an epithet of coin. † shining clay, gold.
| 1668 Hopkins Van. World Wks. (1710) 5 What are Gold and Silver, but diversified Earth, hard and shining Clay? 1677 A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. v. (1704) 306 The tears I shed, for being deprived of a little shining clay. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Sat. ii. iii. 203 From out his Bags he pours the shining Store. |
c. Nat. Hist., etc. (See quots.)
| 1792 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 399 Pileus brown, shining, glutinous. 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot., Lucidum folium..Bright, shining. 1839 Lindley Introd. Bot. iii. (ed. 3) 471 Shining (nitidus); having a smooth, even, polished surface; as many leaves. 1850 Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. §310 The degrees of intensity [sc. of lustre] are denominated as follows:—..Shining, when an image is produced, but not a well-defined image. Ex., Calcareous spar, Celestine. 1871 W. A. Leighton Lichen-flora 109 Lobes ascending, glabrous and shining. |
d. Hence as specific name of animals and plants (rendering L. lucidus, lucens, splendidus, etc.). shining cuckoo, a copper-coloured cuckoo, Chalcites lucidus, found in New Zealand and other parts of the Pacific.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §475 The Shining Willow, which they call Swallow-Taile. 1771 J. R. Forster Flora Amer. Septentr. 7 Potamogeton lucens. Pondweed, shining. 1782 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. ii. 528 Shining C[uckow]..Size of a small Thrush..inhabits New Zealand. 1783 Ibid. III. 56 Shining Thrush, Turdus nitens. 1784 Cullum Hist. Hawsted App. 232 Shining Dove's-foot cranesbill (Geranium lucidum) in hedges. 1809 Shaw Gen. Zool. VII. 372 Coppery-green shining Crow. 1865 Intell. Obs. VII. 102 The male Satin or Shining Bower Bird. 1888 W. Buller Birds N.Z. (ed. 2) I. 133 A peculiar whistling cry..announces the arrival in our country of the shining cuckoo. 1965 F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon vi. 155 It was..something like the call of the shining cuckoo, a sound just in the air. |
2. Phr. a. shining light (after John v. 35): a person conspicuous for some excellence.
| 1526 [see light n. 5 a]. 1563 Winȝet tr. Vincent. Lirin. ix. Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 27 That schyning licht of al the sanctis,..maist blissit Cypriane. a 1796 Burns Holy Willie's Prayer ii, A burnin' an' a shinin' light To a' this place! 1869 Trollope He knew, etc. xviii. (1878) 100 Her aunt was regarded as a shining light by very many good people in the county. 1887 Field 19 Nov. 790/1 In the opening part of the game, Stadden, Robertshaw, and Brooke had been the shining lights. |
b. to improve the shining hour (after Watts, see quot. 1720): to make good use of time.
| 1720 Watts Div. Songs xx, How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour! 1866 ‘Annie Thomas’ Walter Goring ii, Though he had been seeming to improve the shining hours very much to his own satisfaction. |
c. shining armour (see quot. 1533 under 1 a, and knight in shining armour s.v. knight n. 4 e) (freq. ironic): a sign of preparedness to fight nobly in a good cause, esp. in defence of the weak.
| 1910 Times 22 Sept. 5/1 The action of an ally in taking his stand in shining armour at a grave moment by the side of your most gracious Sovereign. 1913 S. Shaw William of Germany xi. 249 The Emperor's soldiers and his Dreadnoughts, his mailed fist and shining armour, are built and put on in the spirit of precaution and defence. 1919 G. B. Shaw Inca of Perusalem 220 What other defence have we poor common people against your shining armor, your mailed fist, your pomp and parade? 1940 E. F. Benson Final Edition xiii. 268 His Field Marshalls took his sabre-rattlings and his stupendous announcements that he was the chosen instrument of the Lord of Hosts at their face value,..and made him keep polishing up the shining armour which he had donned for his secret reassurance. 1960 J. Stroud Shorn Lamb xxii. 242 When I first came galloping out of the University, in shining armour..it was To the Rescue of the Deprived Child. 1968 ‘M. Underwood’ Man who killed too Soon vi. 61, I could tempt him to don his shining armour and try a rescue operation. |
3. With reference to intellectual or moral qualities: Eminent, distinguished, brilliant. Now rare.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xix. (1890) 210 Se wæs in wordum & dædum beorht & scinende. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. xxxvii. 69 Þe vertu of þy shynynge lyf shal be..gladyd þerby. c 1410 Hoccleve Mother of God 101 Seint Ion Shynynge apostle & euangelist. 1513 Life Hen. V (1911) 7 The life and shyninge Acts of this most victorious Kinge. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 173 The siluer streaming fountaines of flowingest witt, and shiningest Art. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 31 Nor was his soul less shining in honour than in loue. 1702 Addison Dial. Medals i. 11 One that endeavoured rather to be agreeable, than shining in conversation. 1711 ― Spect. No. 73 ¶4 Men of the greatest and the most shining Parts. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxix. 154 Charles duke of Bourbon..was a prince of the most shining merit. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 560 Anticipated rents, and bills unpaid, Force many a shining youth into the shade. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxvii, [His] most shining quality was courage in the field of battle. 1881 M. Raleigh Alex. Raleigh i. 7 [He] was regarded as a boy of good but not shining ability. |
4. Of looks: Radiant, beaming.
| 1821 Lamb Elia i. My relations, A..shining sanguine face. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. xiii, Greeting him with one of her shining looks. |
5. Comb.
| 1802 Shaw Gen. Zool. III. 464 Shining-black Snake. 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 120 Shining-leaved Fig Wort. 1887 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 71 Raced With, along them, cragiron under and cold furls—With-a-fountain's shining-shot furls. 1895 K. Meyer Voy. Bran I. 71 A red-eared shining-white cow. 1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow ii. 52 Sometimes, all shining-eyed, she was back at her own home. 1923 Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 289 Everything was as shining-new as death. |
Add: [2.] d. Shining Path [tr. Sp. Sendero Luminoso] = *Sendero Luminoso n.
| [1981 Washington Post 21 Sept. a17/4 The only political group to have been singled out in the assaults is an apparently tiny Maoist organization called Sendero Luminoso, which means ‘shining path’.] 1982 N.Y. Times 9 Sept. a2/3 Shining Path has almost no support nationally, being roundly condemned even by Peru's many Communist parties. 1984 Guardian Weekly 11 Mar. 11, 11 Peruvian regions..where a state of emergency had been declared because of the revolutionary activities of the (Maoist) Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) movement. 1986 Independent 7 Oct. 9/2 The curfew is..to prevent sabotage..by the increasingly active Maoist ‘Shining Path’. 1988 New Yorker 4 Jan. 31/1 It was there [sc. in Ayacucho] that Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path, which is one of the most ruthless and secretive movements in Latin-American history, came into being. |