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elve

American  
[elv] / ɛlv /

noun

  1. an extremely dim, flattened, expanding, reddish glow briefly seen over a thunderstorm, due to electromagnetic pulses from intense lightning.


elve Scientific  
/ ĕlv /
  1. An extremely dim, short-lived, expanding disk of reddish light above thunderstorms, believed to be caused by electromagnetic pulses from intense lightning in the lower ionosphere. Elves last less than a second and can be as wide as 500 km (310 mi) in diameter.


Etymology

Origin of elve

First recorded in 1990–95; e(mission of) l(ight and) v(ery low-frequency perturbations from) e(lectromagnetic pulse sources)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Galadriel was the "alpha" elve female - the female equivalent to Feanor and the leader of the elves in Midde Earth. 

From Time

The farmer and his wife, they thought, were too rash to harbour it in their house, for it was not chancy to be at feud with "the good people," who, out of revenge, might shoot his cattle; and, verily, during that summer, a good many had already died of elve shots.

From Project Gutenberg

I can fancy the wee sprites of earth in whatever form they happen to dwell at the moment, beetle or bumblebee, eft or elve, gathering these eagerly by scent and by sight, to store them away below ground for slow transmutations of their own.

From Project Gutenberg

These solemn times and near approaches of the Lord to my soul; the first at Elve when I went there, and the other a little after my father's death in the high study.

From Project Gutenberg

The poor lady-fairy,—a mother's aye a mother, be she Elve's flesh or Eve's flesh,—hid her Elf son beside the christened flesh in Marion Irving's cradle, and the auld enemy lost his prey for a time....

From Project Gutenberg