Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various large bright spots or veined patches on the surface of a planet or other solar system body, or on the sun's photosphere.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In astronomy, one of the small spots often seen on the sun's disk, which appear brighter than the rest of his surface.

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

  • noun astronomy A bright spot or patch between sunspots

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

  • noun a bright spot on a planet
  • noun a large bright spot on the sun's photosphere occurring most frequently in the vicinity of sunspots

Etymologies

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

[Latin, small torch, diminutive of fax, fac-, torch.]

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Examples

  • Toward the edges of the Sun, again, are very brilliant and highly luminous regions, which generally surround the spots, and have been termed _faculæ_ (_facula_, a little torch).

    Astronomy for Amateurs Camille Flammarion 1883

  • He considers it indeed "highly probable that the preparatory sign of a new spot is always a small, bright patch of facula."

    A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century Fourth Edition 1874

  • : "Si autem velut a lumine lumina accensa sunt ... velut verbi gratia a facula faculæ, generatione quidem et magnitudine fortasse distabunt ab invicem; eiusdem autem substantive cum sint cum principe emissionis ipsorum, aut omnes impassibiles perseverant aut et pater ipsorum participabit passiones.

    History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) Adolph Harnack 1890

  • Neque enim quæ postea accensa est facula, alterum lumen habebit quam illud quod ante eam fuit. "

    History of Dogma, Volume 2 (of 7) Adolph Harnack 1890

  • • Regnabit Dominus in facula &c 4] Ante faecula re* gnavit Chriftus finecarne; regnavitefiam in carn* in faecula.

    Opera omnia sanctorum patrum graecorum: graece et latine 1784

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