Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various bioluminescent dinoflagellates of the genus Noctiluca that when grouped in large numbers make the sea phosphorescent.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of free-swimming phosphorescent pelagicinfusorialanimalcules, typical of the family Noctilucidæ.
- noun A member of this genus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Old Chem.) That which shines at night; -- a fanciful name for phosphorus.
- noun (Zoöl.) A genus of marine flagellate Infusoria, remarkable for their unusually large size and complex structure, as well as for their phosphorescence. The brilliant diffuse phosphorescence of the sea is often due to myriads of Noctilucæ.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large bioluminescent marine protozoan
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Infrared Moonset on Universe Today « luna noctiluca Says:
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Shrimp eat noctiluca, so they evolved the ability, giving away the shrimp's position so that cuttlefish and other predators could catch them.
nessus Diary Entry nessus 2004
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The fish and other animals that swim in these waters at night aggitate the noctiluca and the waters glow with what look like the ghosts of fish.
nessus Diary Entry nessus 2004
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There are these little single celled organisms called noctiluca.
nessus Diary Entry nessus 2004
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That pretty sparkler of our summer evenings, so often made the ploughboy's prize, the only brilliant that glitters in the rustic's hat, the glowworm, (_lampyris noctiluca_,) is not found in such numbers with us, as in many other places, where these signal tapers glimmer upon every grassy bank; yet, in some seasons, we have a reasonable sprinkling of them.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 361, Supplementary Issue (1829) Various
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It is spontaneous, for example, in the _Pelagia phosphorea_, but not in the allied _Pelagia noctiluca_, a very common form in the
Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky Various 1880
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Among the Annelid worms a species of _Nereis_, or sea-centipedes, has earned by its phosphorescent property the specific name of _noctiluca_
Young Folks' Library, Volume XI (of 20) Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky Various 1880
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Science employs the same term: it calls the lantern-bearer, _Lampyris noctiluca_, LIN.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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This property does not belong exclusively to the Medusa noctiluca, which Forskael has described in his Fauna Aegyptiaca, and which Gmelin has applied to the Medusa pelagica of Loefling, notwithstanding its red tentacula, and the brownish tuberosities of its body.
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814
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The mauve stingers - or Pelagia noctiluca - are tiny but can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles in a single 'bloom'.
palooka commented on the word noctiluca
Pretty word. Per the AHD: "Any of various bioluminescent dinoflagellates of the genus Noctiluca that when grouped in large numbers make the sea phosphorescent."
May 27, 2008