Saint Elmo's fire

Saint El·mo's fire

S0025900 (ĕl′mōz)n. A visible electric discharge on a pointed object, such as the mast of a ship or the wing of an airplane, during an electrical storm. Also called corposant.

[After Saint Elmo, fourth-century ad patron saint of sailors.]

Saint Elmo's fire

(ˈɛlməʊz) n (General Physics) (not in technical usage) a luminous region that sometimes appears around church spires, the masts of ships, etc. It is a corona discharge in the air caused by atmospheric electricity. Also called: corposant [C16: so called because it was associated with Saint Elmo (a corruption, via Sant'Ermo, of Saint Erasmus, died 303) the patron saint of Mediterranean sailors]

Thesaurus

Noun

Saint Elmo's fire - an electrical discharge accompanied by ionization of surrounding atmospherecorona discharge, corposant, electric glow, Saint Elmo's light, Saint Ulmo's fire, Saint Ulmo's light, St. Elmo's fire, coronaarc, electric arc, electric discharge, spark, discharge - electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field

Saint Elmo's fire

Saint Elmo's fire,

luminous discharge of electricity extending into the atmosphere from some projecting or elevated object. It is usually observed (often during a snowstorm or a dust storm) as brushlike fiery jets extending from the tips of a ship's mast or spar, a wing, propeller, or other part of an aircraft, a steeple, a mountain top, or even from blades of grass or horns of cattle. Sometimes it plays about the head of a person, causing a tingling sensation. The phenomenon occurs when the atmosphere becomes charged and an electrical potential strong enough to cause a discharge is created between an object and the air around it. The amount of electricity involved is not great enough to be dangerous. The appearance of St. Elmo's fire is regarded as a portent of bad weather. The phenomenon, also known as corposant, was long regarded with superstitious awe.

Saint Elmo’s Fire

electrical discharges in the atmosphere in the form of flashing brushes occasionally observed on high pointed objects, such as towers, masts, lone trees, and mountain tops. The phenomenon was named in the Middle Ages after Saint Elmo’s Church, on the towers of which it was frequently observed.

Saint Elmo’s fire arises when the electrostatic intensity in the atmosphere at a point reaches a magnitude of the order of 500 volts per meter or higher, which occurs most often during thunderstorms or upon the approach of such storms; in the winter, it occurs during blizzards. Physically, Saint Elmo’s fire is a special type of corona discharge (seeCORONA DISCHARGE).

Saint Elmo's fire

[′sānt ′el·mōz ′fīr] (electricity) A visible electric discharge, sometimes seen on the mast of a ship, on metal towers, and on projecting parts of aircraft, due to concentration of the atmospheric electric field at such projecting parts.

Saint Elmo's fire

Saint El·mo's fire

Saint Elmo's fire

Saint Elmo's fire

Saint Elmo's fire,

Saint Elmo’s Fire

Saint Elmo's fire

Saint Elmo's fire

Synonyms for Saint Elmo's fire

noun an electrical discharge accompanied by ionization of surrounding atmosphere

Synonyms

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