Very lights

American  

[ver-ee] / ˈvɛr i /

plural noun

1. a variety of colored signal flares, fired from a special pistol Very pistol.

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Etymology

Origin of Very lights

1910–15; after E. W. Very (1847–1907), U.S. inventor

Example Sentences

Twenty-five minutes after the attack began, green Very lights arched over the crest.

From Time Magazine Archive

Very lights, anti-aircraft shells flashed brightly above them.

From Time Magazine Archive

Experiments were made with flags, with written messages carried back and dropped to the gunners, and finally with coloured Very lights.

From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir

After the manœuvres the Gamma flew by night over Cambridge and bombarded that seat of learning with Very lights.

From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir

Suddenly the "Very" lights went up from the German side, literally in hundreds, illuminating the top of the ridge and the sky behind with a thin greenish white flare.

From A Yankee in the Trenches by Holmes, Robert Derby