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Definitions

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Shining with a faint light or luminosity like that of phosphorus; luminous without sensible heat. Various animals are phosphorescent; as, among infusorians, the noctilucas (see cut under Noctiluca); among polyps, certain sea-pens (Pennatula phosphorea, for example); among insects, the glow-worm and other beetles of the family Lampyridæ (see cuts under firefly, Lampyris, and lightning-bug), and many bugs of the family Fulgoridæ. (see cut under lantern-fly); among ascidians, the pyrosomes or firebodies; and some fishes. A number of mineral substances exhibit a similar property after having been exposed to a bright light, though from a different cause, as calcium chlorid, anhydrous calcium nitrate, the sulphids of barium, strontium, calcium (luminous paint), the diamond, some varieties of fluor-spar. apatite, borax, and many other substances. Some mineral bodies become phosphorescent when strongly heated, as a piece of lime See phosphorescence.
  2. n. A substance having the property of phosphorescence, or luminosity without heat.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Having the property of emitting light for a period of time after the source of excitation is taken away, e.g, in electrostatic storage tubes and cathode-ray tubes.
  2. n. A phosphorescent substance.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Shining with a phosphoric light; luminous without sensible heat.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. emitting light without appreciable heat as by slow oxidation of phosphorous

Examples

  • “Extract from a letter by Mr. S.C. Patterson, second officer of the P. and O. steamship _Delta_: a spectacle which the _Journal_ continues to call phosphorescent:”

    The Book of the Damned

  • “Wherever it is rubbed, in the dark, on a door, or on a wall, it leaves a luminous trail of a very peculiar appearance, which has been called phosphorescent, from the name of the substance which produces it.”

    The History of a Mouthful of Bread And its effect on the organization of men and animals

  • “Mr. Hoepfner however thinks the dispersion of the diamond by this great heat should be called a phosphorescent evaporation of it, rather than a combustion; and from its other analogies of crystallization, hardness, transparency, and place of its nativity, wishes again to replace it amongst the precious stones.”

    The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation

  • “When zinc and sulphur are hested together in close vessels the sulphur rises in vapour without t ing to the zinc; but it is staled by Mr.E. Davy, that in some ex - perimenls made in the laboratoiy of the Royal Institution, in which sulphur in vapour was passed over melted zinc, they united, and formed a white crystalline substance, analogous to the substauce found in nature, and called phosphorescent blende.”

    Internet Archive: Elements of Chemical Philosophy: Part 1, Vol.1

  • “phosphorescent' - but the children are still and utterly captivated.”

    Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph

  • “- to call the phosphorescent-Slurpee spill of paint on our Genesis coupe: Lime Rock Green.”

    Automotive News Blog at CARandDRIVER.com - Car News Resource

  • “But once you start talking about washing sperm, intrauterine insemination, Microsort where they actually paint sperm with some kind of phosphorescent dye--eek, IVf, etc., that's up to you.”

    Fertility Facts: Does Going to a Doctor Really Help?

  • “From behind his half-lowered eyelashes they shone with a kind of phosphorescent gleam — if I may so express myself — which was not the reflection of a fervid soul or of a playful fancy, but a glitter like to that of smooth steel, blinding but cold.”

    A Hero of Our Time

  • “Waited until the light died down, then died out, leaving behind only the diagram, the lines now covered with a kind of phosphorescent slime.”

    Jinx High

  • “From behind his half-lowered eyelashes they shone with a kind of phosphorescent gleam -- if I may so express myself -- which was not the reflection of a fervid soul or of a playful fancy, but a glitter like to that of smooth steel, blinding but cold.”

    A Hero of Our Time

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‘phosphorescent’ has been looked up 1932 times, loved by 5 people, added to 25 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 26.