aureole

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au·re·ole

(ôr′ē-ōl′) also au·re·o·la (ô-rē′ə-lə)

1. A circular or oval light surrounding the head or body of a representation of a deity or holy person; a halo.

2. Astronomy See corona.

[Middle English, from Late Latin (corōna) aureola, golden (crown), feminine of Latin aureolus, golden, from aureus, from aurum, gold.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

aureole

(ˈɔːrɪˌəʊl) or

aureola

1. (Art Terms) (esp in paintings of Christian saints and the deity) a border of light or radiance enveloping the head or sometimes the whole of a figure represented as holy

2. a less common word for halo

3. (Astronomy) another name for corona²

[C13: from Old French auréole, from Medieval Latin (corōna) aureola golden (crown), from Latin aureolus golden, from aurum gold]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

au•re•ole

(ˈɔr iˌoʊl)

also au•re•o•la

(ɔˈri ə lə, əˈri-)

n., pl. -oles also -o•las.

1. a radiance surrounding the head or the whole figure of a sacred personage.

2. any encircling ring of light or color; halo.

3. corona (def. 2).

4. a zone of altered country rock around an igneous intrusion.

[1175–1225; Middle English < Latin aureola (corona) golden (crown)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	aureole - the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere; visible as a white halo during a solar eclipse corona nimbus, nimbus cloud, rain cloud - a dark grey cloud bearing rain glowing, radiance, glow - the amount of electromagnetic radiation leaving or arriving at a point on a surface
	2.	aureole - an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint gloriole, halo, nimbus, aura, glory lightness, light - the visual effect of illumination on objects or scenes as created in pictures; "he could paint the lightest light and the darkest dark"

Translations

Heiligenschein Korona

auréole

aureola raggiera

aureole

[ˈɔːrɪəʊl] N → aureola f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

aureole

n (Astron) → Korona f; (because of haze) → Hof m, → Aureole f; (Art) → Aureole f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

There was a star upon his forehead, and around his young face there glowed an aureole of gold and roses--to speak figuratively, for the star upon his brow was hope, and the gold and roses encircling his head, a miniature rainbow, were youth and health.

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A glow of life seemed like an aureole to shine about her.

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Athos turned around with an effort; the sight of the young man was evidently painful to him, and there he still was, in fact, on the rock, the beacon shedding around him, as it were, a doubtful aureole.

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The convict's shirt, open in large, broad folds, left bare the neck, delicate as a woman's, and made for that youthful face an aureole, of innocence, of martyrdom.

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A boy's cap was perched on her head, and her hair, light brown and arranged in a loose and fluffy order that caught the sun, seemed an aureole about the delicate oval of her face.

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Moving through the sunlit garden at the side of the great Warlord, the scintillant rays of his countless gems enveloping him as in an aureole of light imparted to his noble figure a suggestion of godliness.

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Long thin wisps of silvery, unkempt hair framed his face like an aureole. He was slender to emaciation, cavernously checked, roll after roll of skin, no longer encasing flesh or muscle, hanging grotesquely down his neck and swathing the Adam's apple so that only occasionally, with queer swallowing motions, did it peep out of the mummy-wrappings of skin and sink back again from view.

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The fascination of a charming, virtuous, highly educated woman might make his way easier, might do wonders in attracting people to him, throwing an aureole round him, and now everything was in ruins!

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No wonder that Amy Foster appeared to his eyes with the aureole of an angel of light.

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The wintry road curved over a ridge in cutting frost, with cruel black shapes of bush and thicket; but Flambeau fancied that he saw beyond it faintly the edge of an aureole that was not starlight and moonlight, but some fire such as is made by men.

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Not sharp and vivid like that of her father, but dim and nebulous was the picture she shaped of her mother--a saint's head in an aureole of sweetness and goodness and meekness, and withal, shot through with a hint of reposeful determination, of will, stubborn and unobtrusive, that in life had expressed itself mainly in resignation.

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The favour of the great throws an aureole round the fortunate object of its selection.