Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To exhibit an iridescent shimmer of colors.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To give forth a play of colors like the opal; exhibit opalescence.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To give forth a play of colors, like the opal.
WordNet 3.0
- v. reflect light or colors like an opal
- v. exhibit a play of colors like that of an opal
Etymologies
- Back-formation from opalescence.
Examples
“Tuesday, December 30: By arranging particles of different sizes, scientists are able to create aggregates that opalesce.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘opalesce’.
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beyond pale
Words meaning or invoking the different aspects of pale.
Not just colour, but also the ideas of impermanence, illness, weakness. (Just not the two noun forms – a thin strip of metal or woo...pale, pallid, wan, light, misty, ethereal, cream, dim, white, thin, waning, colourless and 60 more...
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dolphins gambolling
based on quote by Hesychius of Batos thornbush
who it is believed lived sometime between 700 and 900 AD
The heart that is freed from imaginings ends up by producing in itself hol...reflection, examen, nepsis, ruminate, contemplate, muller, soul-searching, reflect, flash, coruscate, redound, debuscope and 16 more...
elsabet From the OED:
(v. intr.)
To exhibit iridescence like that of precious opal. Also fig.
1870 J. SMITH Chris & Otho 16
You do opalesce with every passing moment. You are red, fiery--green, jealous--yellow, suspicious. Jun 28, 2007