polar lights

American  

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere or the aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere.

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polar lights British  

plural noun

1. the aurora borealis in the N hemisphere or the aurora australis in the S hemisphere

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Example Sentences

He explained that one likely effect of this would have been the production of polar lights, or auroras, at much lower latitudes as many more solar particles breached the shield to collide with atmospheric molecules.

From BBC • May 4, 2010

The instrumentation is all wet grays and blacks, relieved only by bits of brightness wan and elusive as the northern summer, frostily green as the polar lights.

From Musical Portraits Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers by Rosenfeld, Paul

Or it is midnight, which suddenly becomes bright as day; the polar lights are in the heavens.

From Toilers of the Sea by Hugo, Victor

I have discovered with certainty that northern polar lights have been seen within the tropics in Mexico and Peru.

From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von