Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A phosphorescent glow produced by certain bioluminescent fungi that grow on rotting wood.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The phosohorescent light given forth by decayed or foxed timber.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
bioluminescence created by some types offungus
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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His first supposition was that it was a fungus growth known in the country as "foxfire," which gives out a phosphorescent glow in the darkness; but after watching and studying it for a long time, he was convinced it was something else.
The Daughter of the Chieftain : the Story of an Indian Girl Edward Sylvester Ellis 1878
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i just started a diaryring for the movie "foxfire" so if you like "foxfire," go join my ring here! last night ·· tomorrow the songs that made you smile:
vintagegrrrl Diary Entry vintagegrrrl 2003
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His eyes burned very blue in the darkness beyond, like foxfire.
Sparks Laura Bickle 2010
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His eyes burned very blue in the darkness beyond, like foxfire.
Sparks Laura Bickle 2010
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His eyes gleamed foxfire blue, an inhuman color in the half-dark.
Sparks Laura Bickle 2010
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Black against the gray background, impossibly big, glowing with its own blue light like a rotten log full of foxfire.
THE FORBIDDEN GAME L.J. SMITH 2010
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As you drive, you look around you at all the signs of degeneration; you hear distant explosions, perhaps catch the foxfire glow of a nearby inferno.
Archive 2008-11-01 SVGL 2008
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His eyes gleamed foxfire blue, an inhuman color in the half-dark.
Sparks Laura Bickle 2010
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As you drive, you look around you at all the signs of degeneration; you hear distant explosions, perhaps catch the foxfire glow of a nearby inferno.
My Millionth Drive Through A Warzone SVGL 2008
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Black against the gray background, impossibly big, glowing with its own blue light like a rotten log full of foxfire.
THE FORBIDDEN GAME L.J. SMITH 2010
treeseed commented on the word foxfire
Foxfire is the term for the bioluminescence created in the right conditions by a few species of fungi that decay wood. The luminescence is often attributed to members of the genus Armillaria, the Honey mushroom, though others are reported, and as many as 40 individual species have been identified. On the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin it was used for light in the Turtle, an early submarine. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the characters of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer use foxfire as a source of light in order to dig a tunnel.
_Wikipedia
February 15, 2008
bilby commented on the word foxfire
See also friar's lantern.
August 25, 2009