Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A circular or oval light surrounding the head or body of a representation of a deity or holy person; a halo.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The zone of contact-metamorphism about an intrusive igneous mass. It is equivalent to *contact-zone.
  • noun A luminous emanation or cloud surrounding a figure or an object; an aureola.
  • To surround or invest with an aureole.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun astronomy Corona.
  • noun A circle of light or halo around the head of a deity or a saint
  • noun by extension Any luminous or colored ring that encircles something.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint
  • noun the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere; visible as a white halo during a solar eclipse

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Late Latin (corōna) aureola, golden (crown), feminine of Latin aureolus, golden, from aureus, from aurum, gold.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French aureole, from Medieval Latin aureola (corona) ("golden (crown)").

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Examples

Comments

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  • "His scarlet beak blazes within the aureole of his straw hat."

    Joyce, Ulysses, 15

    February 5, 2007

  • "Sparse blond hair rose like an aureole from the back of his neck. His skin was pink and clean as though he had just come from a steam bath and he smoked a long Russian cigarette."

    - 'The Colour Of Blood', Brian Moore.

    January 3, 2008