Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various bioluminescent dinoflagellates of the genus Noctiluca that when grouped in large numbers make the sea phosphorescent.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A genus of free-swimming phosphorescent pelagicinfusorialanimalcules, typical of the family Noctilucidæ. It is sometimes regarded as representative of an order Cystoflagellata (or Rhynchoflagellata). They are ordinarily regarded as monomastigate or uniflagellate eustomatous infusorians, of sub-spheroidal form, strikingly like a peach in shape, and from
to of an inch in diameter (thus of giant size among infusorians). There is only one species, N. miliaris, of almost cosmopolitan distribution, but most abundant in warm seas, where they are foremost among various phosphorescent pelagic organisms which make the water luminous. - n. A member of this genus.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Old Chem.) That which shines at night; -- a fanciful name for phosphorus.
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of marine flagellate Infusoria, remarkable for their unusually large size and complex structure, as well as for their phosphorescence. The brilliant diffuse phosphorescence of the sea is often due to myriads of Noctilucæ.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large bioluminescent marine protozoan
Etymologies
- New Latin Noctilūca, genus name, from Latin noctilūca, lantern, moon : nocti-, nocti- + lūcēre, to shine; see leuk- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Infrared Moonset on Universe Today « luna noctiluca Says:”
“The fish and other animals that swim in these waters at night aggitate the noctiluca and the waters glow with what look like the ghosts of fish.”
“There are these little single celled organisms called noctiluca.”
“Shrimp eat noctiluca, so they evolved the ability, giving away the shrimp's position so that cuttlefish and other predators could catch them.”
“That pretty sparkler of our summer evenings, so often made the ploughboy's prize, the only brilliant that glitters in the rustic's hat, the glowworm, (_lampyris noctiluca_,) is not found in such numbers with us, as in many other places, where these signal tapers glimmer upon every grassy bank; yet, in some seasons, we have a reasonable sprinkling of them.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 361, Supplementary Issue (1829)
“It is spontaneous, for example, in the _Pelagia phosphorea_, but not in the allied _Pelagia noctiluca_, a very common form in the”
Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky
“Among the Annelid worms a species of _Nereis_, or sea-centipedes, has earned by its phosphorescent property the specific name of _noctiluca_”
Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky
“Science employs the same term: it calls the lantern-bearer, _Lampyris noctiluca_, LIN.”
“This property does not belong exclusively to the Medusa noctiluca, which Forskael has described in his Fauna Aegyptiaca, and which Gmelin has applied to the Medusa pelagica of Loefling, notwithstanding its red tentacula, and the brownish tuberosities of its body.”
“The mauve stingers - or Pelagia noctiluca - are tiny but can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles in a single 'bloom'.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘noctiluca’.
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
dark and bright words of shine and fi...
scotophil, scotoma, scotia, shed, shadow, shade, scone, whiting, edelweiss, light, lightning, lucina and 349 more...
-
Bioluminescence
Words associated with that wonderful natural phenomenon.
chemiluminescent, bioluminescent di..., noctiluca, luciferase, photophores, luminesce, phosphorescence, foxfire, luminous click be..., photoproteins, blue-green sunlight, light organ and 5 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for noctiluca.
palooka Pretty word. Per the AHD: "Any of various bioluminescent dinoflagellates of the genus Noctiluca that when grouped in large numbers make the sea phosphorescent." May 27, 2008