scintillate

== English == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin scintillātus, past participle of scintillāre (“to sparkle, glitter, gleam, flash”), from scintilla (“a spark”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪn.tɪˌleɪt/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɪn.təˌleɪt/ Hyphenation: scin‧til‧late === Verb === scintillate (third-person singular simple present scintillates, present participle scintillating, simple past and past participle scintillated) (intransitive) To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to twinkle or glow. (astronomy) Of a star or other celestial body: to vary rapidly in brightness; to twinkle. (nuclear physics) Especially of a phosphor: to emit a flash of light upon absorbing ionizing radiation. (intransitive) To dazzle or to impress. (transitive, now rare) To throw off like sparks. 1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Arabin”, in Barchester Towers: In Three Volumes, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, OCLC 911659634; republished as Barchester Towers. [...] In Two Volumes (Hand and Pocket Library; II), volume I, New York, N.Y.: Dick & Fitzgerald, 18 Ann Street, [1860], OCLC 863553483, page 201: As a boy young Arabin took up the cudgels on the side of the Tractarians, and at Oxford he sat for a while at the feet of the great [John Henry] Newman. To this cause he lent all his faculties. For it he concocted verses, for it he made speeches, for it he scintillated the brightest sparks of his quiet wit. ==== Derived terms ==== scintillating scintillation scintillator ==== Related terms ==== scintilla stencil tinsel ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === “scintillate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “scintillate”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “scintillate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. == Italian == === Verb === scintillate second-person plural present and imperative of scintillare == Latin == === Verb === scintillāte second-person plural present active imperative of scintillō