corposant

British  

/ ˈkɔːpəˌzænt /

noun

1. another name for Saint Elmo's fire

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Etymology

Origin of corposant

C17: from Portuguese corpo-santo, literally: holy body, from Latin corpus sanctum

Example Sentences

Pomp asked him of the sea’s lore, and he told us tales of sea-waifs in cradles of kelp, and the glowing corposants that crawl ship’s spars when guilty men keep crimes embosomed.

From Literature

And through the mist, all white and whist, Gaunt ships, with sea-weed wound, With rotting masts, upon whose spars The corposants lit spectre stars, Sailed by without a sound.

From Project Gutenberg

I have heard sailors speak of those lights as witch-lights, death-gleams, and corposants, and their appearance is said always to foretell disaster.

From Project Gutenberg

They had played around him as the corposant flickers around the mast-head of a ship....

From Project Gutenberg

Everybody knows nowadays that a corposant is nothing whatever but an electrical phenomenon, and therefore merely an indication that the atmosphere is surcharged with electricity.

From Project Gutenberg