Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To exhibit an iridescent shimmer of colors.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To give forth a play of colors like the opal; exhibit opalescence.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To give forth a play of colors, like the opal.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To be
opalescent ; to give forth a play of colours, like theopal .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb reflect light or colors like an opal
- verb exhibit a play of colors like that of an opal
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Back-formation from opalescence.]
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Examples
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Tuesday, December 30: By arranging particles of different sizes, scientists are able to create aggregates that opalesce.
Material World: Weekly Preview Tracy Staedter 2009
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Tuesday, December 30: By arranging particles of different sizes, scientists are able to create aggregates that opalesce.
Material World: December 2008 Tracy Staedter 2008
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Tuesday, December 30: By arranging particles of different sizes, scientists are able to create aggregates that opalesce.
Material World: Discovery Tech Weekly Preview, Dec 29 Tracy Staedter 2008
elsabet commented on the word opalesce
From the OED:
(v. intr.)
To exhibit iridescence like that of precious opal. Also fig.
1870 J. SMITH Chris & Otho 16
You do opalesce with every passing moment. You are red, fiery--green, jealous--yellow, suspicious.
June 29, 2007