lucifugous
Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Shunning light; avoiding daylight: applied to various animals, as bats, cockroaches, etc.
‘Lucifugous’ comes from the Latin ‘lucere,’ to shine, and ‘fugax,’ apt to flee, timid.
Examples
“The creatures which mainly succumb to plague, and carry its germs, are precisely those whose lucifugous and filthy habits withdraw them most from fresh air and sunshine - namely, rats.”
“Animals which love the light, as bees, prefer blue or green rays, while the light-shunning or lucifugous insects, such as ants, have less antipathy for red than other colors.”
“There are six general kinds of these demons. The first is Leliurius, which signifies, fiery. . . .The second kind is that which wanders in the air contiguous to up and is by many peculiarly called, aereal. The third is called, terrestrial; the fourth, watery and marine; the fifth subterraneous; and the sixth, lucifugous and hardly sensible.”
Thomas Stanley, The Zoroastrian and Some Other Ancient Systems
