fox-fire Now only U.S.
The phosphorescent light emitted by decaying timber.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 140 Fox Fire, glos, glossis. 1824 J. Doddridge Notes Virginia & Pennsylv. 290 If they had seen any thing like fire, between that and the fort, it must have been fox fire. 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn I. xxviii. 311 The fox-fire—as the country people call it—glowed hideously from the cold and matted bosom of the marsh. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiv. (1856) 193 The fox-fire of the Virginia meadows. 1872 E. Eggleston End of World xxxii. 210 The ‘fox-fire’, rotting logs glowing with a faint luminosity, startled her several times. 1920 J. M. Hunter Trail Drivers of Texas 149 There is where you could see phosphorescence (fox fire) on our horses' ears. |