halo Hear it!

halo Definition

halo (hā′lō)

noun pl. -·los or -·loes

    1. a ring of light that seems to encircle the sun, moon, or other luminous body: it results from the refraction of light through ice crystals in our atmosphere
    2. a spherical distribution of stars and star clusters extending beyond the main body of certain galaxies, as the Milky Way
  2. a symbolic disk or ring of light shown around or above the head of a saint, etc., as in pictures; nimbus: often used as a symbol of virtue or innocence
  3. the splendor or glory with which a famed, revered, or idealized person or thing is invested

Etymology: L halos (gen. & acc. halo) < Gr halōs, circular threshing floor, round disk of the sun or moon, hence halo around the sun or moon < halein, to grind < IE base *al-, to grind > Arm ałam, grind, Hindi āṭā, meal

transitive verb -·loed, -·lo·ing

to encircle with a halo

halo Synonyms

halo

n.

corona, aurora, crown of light, radiance, nimbus; see also light 1.

halo Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • circumscribe: Changing shape of the circumscribed halo with solar altitude.
  • emit: The answer is to use a glowing halo instead of the emitting halo.
  • wear: I'm now 7 weeks into a 13 week period of wearing a halo brace.
  • produce: The slow exposure, produced a ghostly halo around the fish.
  • create: One plug-in, included with the program, is the Fire plug-in, which lets you create fiery halos around your text.

Converse of subject

  • surround: A child in the snow surrounded by a halo of gold goes shaking the heavy branches.

Adjective modifier

  • 22�: The very faint circular arc could be a 23 or 22° halo.
  • 22�: The gull winged arc always touches the 22º halo at a point directly above the sun.
  • 46�: A rather more rare 46° halo was also faintly visible.
  • galactic: Stars outside the thick disk ellipse belong to the galactic halo.
  • glowing: The answer is to use a glowing halo instead of the emitting halo.
  • faint: The image, however, also shows a faint circular halo beneath the arc.

Modifies a noun

  • nucleus: Theories of halo nucleus scattering often use an approximation in which the halo is appeared frozen during the collision.
  • effect: Beware of ' halo effect ' from the heroes - they're just pilots too!
  • round: The only other thing that has been removed is the halo round the head of the Child Jesus.
  • display: Crystals from a mediocre halo display 16 days earlier.
  • turn: Repeat the practice until you understand it, then perform it as a proper halo turn - hand hold and all.

Noun used with modifier

  • matter: Our measurements of the HI in our Galaxy have given us insight into the dark matter halo around our Galaxy.

Preposition: of

  • galaxy: One of the key goals will be to search for signatures of tidal debris in the halos of these galaxies.
  • light: In spite of the halo of light surrounding his form, the youthful Persian god remains obscure to us.
halo Quotes

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.

—Wells, H(erbert) G(eorge)

Life†is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.

—Woolf, (Adeline) Virginia ne¤  e Stephen

What after all Is a halo? It's only one more thing to keep clean.

—Fry, C(harles) B(urgess)