lambent

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2016 is: lambent • \LAM-bunt\  • adjective 1 : playing lightly on or over a surface : flickering 2 : softly bright or radiant 3 : marked by lightness or brilliance especially of expression Examples: "It's an early May morning and the air is cool and still and filled with lambent light." — Christopher Norment, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 May 2015 "There's nothing like the swell of a powerful pipe organ in the right room. You can feel the lowest pedal notes in your stomach, or the lambent whisper of the tiniest pipes, with their delicate, shimmering sound." — T. R. Goldman, The Washington Post, 31 July 2016 Did you know? Fire is frequently associated with lapping or licking imagery: flames are often described as "tongues" that "lick." Lambent, which first appeared in English in the 17th century, is a part of this tradition, coming from lambens, the present participle of the Latin verb lambere, meaning "to lick." In its earliest uses, lambent meant "playing lightly over a surface," "gliding over," or "flickering." These uses were usually applied to flames or light, and by way of that association, the term eventually came to describe things with a radiant or brilliant glow, as Alexander Pope used it in his 1717 poem "Eloisa to Abelard": "Those smiling eyes, attemp'ring ev'ry ray, Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.