elve

[ elv ]

See synonyms for: elves on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

Origin of elve

¹

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

Words Nearby elve

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use elve in a sentence

elve in French means up aloft, and elve means frequently transported with excitement.
Archaic England | Harold Bayley
elve le corbeau, il te crvera les yeux—Bring 25 up a raven, he will pick out your eyes.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources | James Wood
The Danish peasantry give the following account of their Ellefolk or elve-people.
The Fairy Mythology | Thomas Keightley
The appearance of the Wood-woman (Skogsfru) or elve-woman, is equally unlucky for hunters.
The Fairy Mythology | Thomas Keightley

Scientific definitions for elve

elve

[ ĕlv ]

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.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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