radiance, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
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Revised 2008

radiancenoun

Quotations

Contents

Earlier version

  1. I.
    General senses.
      1. I.1.a.
        a1593–
        A radiant condition or quality; brightness, light, esp. brilliant or splendid light emitted by an object.
        In quot. a1593, in sense 'burning quality' perhaps with admixture of sense I.2.
        1. a1593
          Thine eyes whose radiance burnes out mine.
          C. Marlowe, translation of Ovid, Elegies (c1603) iii. x. sig. F
        2. 1598
          Their guides a repercussive dread Took from the horrid radiance of his refulgent head.
          G. Chapman, translation of Homer, Seauen Bookes of Iliades xviii. 192
        3. 1608
          By the sacred radience of the Sunne.
          W. Shakespeare, King Lear i. 102
        4. a1616
          In his bright radience and colaterall light, Must I be comforted.
          W. Shakespeare, All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 87
        5. 1667
          The Son..with Radiance crown'd Of Majestie Divine.
          J. Milton, Paradise Lost vii. 194
        6. 1728
          The rapid Radiance instantaneous strikes Th' illumin'd Mountain.
          J. Thomson, Spring 13
        7. 1796
          Innocuous lightnings round the hallowed banner Wreath'd their red radiance.
          R. Southey, Joan of Arc vi
        8. 1812
          Well may the moon delight to shed Her softest radiance round that head.
          J. Wilson, Isle of Palms i. 214
        9. 1874
          When the sun arose the morning star was lost in his radiance.
          H. R. Reynolds, John the Baptist i. 11
        10. 1908
          His mind was blank, save for the intervals when unsummoned memory pictures took form and color and radiance just under his eyelids.
          J. London, Martin Eden xlv. 388
        11. 1986
          When the path along the Danube turned east, the radiance of the morning poured along the valley.
          P. L. Fermor, Between Woods & Water i. 25
        12. 2001
          He stood in the watery radiance of that afternoon light.
          A. Gurnah, By the Sea (2002) v. 141
      2. I.1.b.
        1600–
        figurative and in figurative contexts.
        1. 1600
          Those infected limmes of the sicke world, Are fixt by thee for starres in that bright Sphere, Where in our Sunne like Radiance did appeare.
          T. Dekker, Old Fortunatus sig. A4
        2. 1603
          But Seeing..Holds most of Fire, which is in nature neere To the Celestiall Natures radience.
          J. Davies, Microcosmos 101
        3. 1615
          Heir monted doth that valiant Prince advance..In whome shal schine pure virtues radiance.
          P. Gordon, Famous Hist. i. sig. G
        4. 1709
          Thus if my Verses shine, 'Tis with the Radiance that is shed from thine.
          R. Gould, Works vol. I. 84
        5. 1761
          The radiance of the regal name.
          Warton, Poems (1777) 10
        6. 1819
          The soul's radiance in our wint'ry hour Flings a sweet summer halo round us.
          ‘B. Cornwall’, Dramatic Scenes & Other Poems 149
        7. 1896
          It was a soft, luminous radiance of sincerity and sympathy.
          ‘Iota’, Quaker Grandmother 13
        8. 1922
          The Greek! he said again... Kyrie! The radiance of the intellect. I ought to profess Greek, the language of the mind.
          J. Joyce, Ulysses ii. vii. [Aeolus] 128
        9. 1978
          Apophaticism gives it the metalogical depth of an unknowable transcendence; the Bible envelopes it in the glorious radiance of the divine names.
          I. Kesarcodi-Watson & I. Kesarcodi-Watson, translation of V. Lossky, Orthodox Theology i. 41
        10. 2004
          Britney Anderson's basketball career once twinkled with enough radiance to light up the skies above the Meadowbrook and Blacksburg high school gyms.
          Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch (Nexis) 27 January e5
    2. I.2.
      1608–
      Brightness of the eye or look; a quality in a person's expression or bearing indicative of joy, love, hope, etc.
      1. 1608
        Others..with much strictnesse imitate, The some-thing stooping carriage of my neck, The voluble, and milde radiance of mine eyes.
        G. Chapman, Conspiracie Duke of Byron iii. sig. E4v
      2. 1657
        What lovely'st Radiance in the Eye, Souls splendid Orb!
        J. Harington, History of Polindor & Flostella (ed. 3) 181
      3. 1748
        Sweet love their looks a gentle radiance lends.
        J. Thomson, Castle of Indolence ii. lxxii
      4. 1772
        The mild radiance of her sparkling eye.
        W. Jones, Poems 10
      5. 1819
        His countenance..burned with radiance Of spirit-piercing joy.
        P. B. Shelley, Rosalind & Helen 59
      6. 1863
        There was a radiance of satisfaction about him not quite usual.
        ‘G. Eliot’, Romola vol. II. xvi. 186
      7. 1908
        She greeted Cecil with unusual radiance, because she felt so safe.
        E. M. Forster, Room with View xv. 236
      8. 1948
        Shirley standing close behind the girl saw the radiance on his frog-like features, and understood why Marjorie had bothered to come back.
        ‘N. Shute’, No Highway x
      9. 1989
        She could dress quite badly... It did not matter. She had radiance, she had presence.
        S. Bedford, Jigsaw iv. 176
      10. 2005
        Rub a little of this tinted cream on your death-mask and get instant sun-kissed radiance.
        Men's Health (U.K. edition) June 48/3
  2. II.
    Scientific uses.
    1. II.3.
      1800–85
      † Radiation that is perceived as heat or light, electromagnetic radiation; the emission of such radiation. Obsolete.
      1. 1800
        The..agency of heat in other circumstances than in its state of radiance, or heat-making rays.
        W. Herschel in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) vol. 90 294
      2. 1869
        The author [sc. J. J. Murphy] here suggests the introduction of a useful word, radiance, to express the light, radiant heat, and actinism of the sun, which are evidently modifications of the same form of energy.
        Nature vol. 1 105/2
      3. 1885
        Thus we have..(3) Theory of radiance. (a) Geometrical optics [etc.].
        J. C. Maxwell in Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XIX. 2
      physics
    2. II.4.
      1917–
      Physics. The flux of radiation emitted per unit solid angle in a given direction by unit area of a source.
      1. 1917
        If now we divide this radiant intensity in any direction by the projected area of the opening in that direction.., we obtain the specific radiant intensity or radiance in that direction.
        H. E. Ives in Astrophysical Journal vol. 45 43
      2. 1944
        The luminance of any surface is the product of the radiance of that surface by the absolute luminosity K of the energy radiated by the surface.
        Journal of Optical Society of America vol. 34 253/2
      3. 1972
        Radiance gradients determined from data gathered by the infrared spectrometers aboard the Nimbus III and Nimbus IV satellites.
        Science 22 September 1100/1
      4. 1996
        The latest development uses correlated photons to make intrinsically absolute measurements of radiance.
        Journal Research National Inst. Standards & Technology vol. 101 605/2
      physics