Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rosy glow that suffuses snow-covered mountain peaks at dawn or dusk on a clear day.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The glow upon the Alps; a peculiar reflection of sunlight from their snowy heights, after the sun has disappeared to the valleys, or just before daybreak; the last or first rays of the sun among the Alps, casting a rich purple tint, an effect sometimes heightened by a certain amount of humidity in the atmosphere.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains; specif., a reillumination sometimes observed after the summits have passed into shadow, supposed to be due to a curving downward (refraction) of the light rays from the west resulting from the cooling of the air.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A rosy or reddish
glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits ofmountains , especially snow covered mountains.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The sun was sliding toward the horizon, throwing beautiful but alarming alpenglow on the mountains and valleys below.
Summit Meetings Michael J. Ybarra 2011
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Amber mists, a cloaked old man with a staff, a cluster of flamingos standing in the alpenglow—a vision so steeped in kitsch you could die just by buying the postcard.
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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Amber mists, a cloaked old man with a staff, a cluster of flamingos standing in the alpenglow—a vision so steeped in kitsch you could die just by buying the postcard.
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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Amber mists, a cloaked old man with a staff, a cluster of flamingos standing in the alpenglow—a vision so steeped in kitsch you could die just by buying the postcard.
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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Peach-colored alpenglow illuminated the great peaks, giving hint of the sun's impending presence.
Genellan- Planetfall Gier, Scott 2005
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As the alpenglow died and darkness tightened, they settled by their haul bags on the dirt beneath an overhang.
The Wall Jeff Long 2005
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There were probably four more hours before sunset, and then another hour of alpenglow after that.
The Wall Jeff Long 2005
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There are two stages to alpenglow, a first surge that waxes and wanes, fooling amateur photographers into stowing away their cameras, and then a sudden short-lived second rush of colors.
The Wall Jeff Long 2005
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The eastern slopes of Erebus were violet at first, and then they were bathe in rosy pink alpenglow and, between two and three o'clock, when the sun rose above WindVane Hill, they became sunflower yellow.
Terra Incognita Wheeler, Sarah 1996
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The volcano did not shine or sparkle in the false alpenglow.
Icerigger Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1974
dimã©lion commented on the word alpenglow
(n): reddish light at sunset or sunrise on mountaintops, esp. occuring before appearance or after disappearance of sun.
November 16, 2008