[aw-rawr-uh, aw-rohr-uh, uh-rawr-uh, uh-rohr-uh ] Pronunciation Key | 1. | the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn. Compare Eos. |
| 2. | (lowercase) dawn. |
| 3. | (lowercase) Meteorology. a radiant emission from the upper atmosphere that occurs sporadically over the middle and high latitudes of both hemispheres in the form of luminous bands, streamers, or the like, caused by the bombardment of the atmosphere with charged solar particles that are being guided along the earth's magnetic lines of force. |
| 4. | a city in central Colorado, near Denver. 158,588. |
| 5. | a city in NE Illinois. 81,293. |
| 6. | a female given name. |
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| au·ro·ra
(ə-rôr'ə, ə-rōr'ə) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. au·ro·ras or au·ro·rae (ə-rôr'ē, ə-rōr'ē)
[Middle English, dawn, from Latin aurōra; see aus- in Indo-European roots.] au·ro'ral, au·ro're·an (-ē-ən) adj., au·ro'ral·ly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
| Au·ro·ra 1
(ə-rôr'ə, ə-rōr'ə) Pronunciation Key
n. Roman Mythology The goddess of the dawn. [Latin Aurōra; see aurora.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Au·ro·ra 2
(ə-rôr'ə, ə-rōr'ə) Pronunciation Key
|
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
aurora
| aurora | |
noun | |
| 1. | the first light of day; "we got up before dawn"; "they talked until morning" [ant: sundown] |
| 2. | an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands of light caused by charged solar particles following the earth's magnetic lines of force |
| 3. | (Roman mythology) goddess of the dawn; counterpart of Greek Eos |
| aurora
(ə-rôr'ə) Pronunciation Key
Plural auroras or aurorae (ə-rôr'ē)
A brilliant display of bands or folds of variously colored light in the sky at night, especially in polar regions. Charged particles from the solar wind are channeled through the Earth's magnetic field into the polar regions. There the particles collide with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, ionizing them and making them glow. Auroras are of greatest intensity and extent during periods of increased sunspot activity, when they often interfere with telecommunications on Earth. An aurora that occurs in southern latitudes is called an aurora australis (ô-strā'lĭs) or southern lights. When it occurs in northern latitudes it is called an aurora borealis (bôr'ē-āl'ĭs) or northern lights. See also magnetic storm.
|
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Aurora
["The Aurora Or-Parallel Prolog System", E. Lusk et al, Proc 3rd Intl Conf on Fifth Generation Comp Systems, pp. 819-830, ICOT, A-W 1988].
Aurora County, SD (county, FIPS 3) Location: 43.71693 N, 98.56683 W
Population (1990): 3135 (1342 housing units)
Area: 1834.3 sq km (land), 11.3 sq km (water)
Aurora, CO (city, FIPS 4000) Location: 39.71227 N, 104.72977 W
Population (1990): 222103 (99890 housing units)
Area: 343.2 sq km (land), 0.6 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 80010, 80011, 80012, 80013, 80014, 80015, 80016, 80017, 800
Aurora, IL (city, FIPS 3012) Location: 41.76763 N, 88.29304 W
Population (1990): 99581 (35621 housing units)
Area: 86.7 sq km (land), 1.5 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 60504, 60505, 60506
Aurora, SD (town, FIPS 2780) Location: 44.28272 N, 96.68660 W
Population (1990): 619 (210 housing units)
Area: 1.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 57002
Aurora, OR (city, FIPS 3300) Location: 45.22830 N, 122.75557 W
Population (1990): 567 (229 housing units)
Area: 1.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 97002
Aurora, NY (village, FIPS 3188) Location: 42.75218 N, 76.69887 W
Population (1990): 687 (209 housing units)
Area: 2.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 13026
Aurora, NE (city, FIPS 2690) Location: 40.86574 N, 98.00312 W
Population (1990): 3810 (1588 housing units)
Area: 4.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 68818
Aurora, NC (town, FIPS 2620) Location: 35.30353 N, 76.78844 W
Population (1990): 654 (296 housing units)
Area: 2.3 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 27806
Aurora, IN (city, FIPS 2782) Location: 39.06641 N, 84.90329 W
Population (1990): 3825 (1599 housing units)
Area: 7.2 sq km (land), 0.4 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 47001
Aurora, MN (city, FIPS 2872) Location: 47.53197 N, 92.24004 W
Population (1990): 1965 (920 housing units)
Area: 9.8 sq km (land), 0.4 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 55705
Aurora, ME Zip code(s): 04408
Aurora, KS (city, FIPS 3425) Location: 39.45164 N, 97.53008 W
Population (1990): 101 (49 housing units)
Area: 0.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 67417
Aurora, IA (city, FIPS 3835) Location: 42.61924 N, 91.72977 W
Population (1990): 196 (83 housing units)
Area: 1.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 50607
Aurora, UT (city, FIPS 2740) Location: 38.92036 N, 111.93243 W
Population (1990): 911 (281 housing units)
Area: 2.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Aurora, TX (town, FIPS 4672) Location: 33.05817 N, 97.51592 W
Population (1990): 623 (244 housing units)
Area: 8.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Aurora, MO (city, FIPS 2548) Location: 36.96990 N, 93.72037 W
Population (1990): 6459 (2975 housing units)
Area: 13.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Aurora, OH (city, FIPS 3086) Location: 41.31217 N, 81.34458 W
Population (1990): 9192 (3478 housing units)
Area: 60.3 sq km (land), 2.3 sq km (water)
East Aurora, NY (village, FIPS 21589) Location: 42.76675 N, 78.61737 W
Population (1990): 6647 (2576 housing units)
Area: 6.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 14052
North Aurora, IL (village, FIPS 53442) Location: 41.80382 N, 88.33037 W
Population (1990): 5940 (2391 housing units)
Area: 9.6 sq km (land), 0.3 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 60542
Aurora
Au*ro"ra\, n.; pl. E. Auroras, L. (rarely used) Auror[ae]. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ?, ?, dawn, Skr. ushas, and E. east.]1. The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. 2. The rise, dawn, or beginning. --Hawthorne. 3. (Class. Myth.) The Roman personification of the dawn of day; the goddess of the morning. The poets represented her a rising out of the ocean, in a chariot, with rosy fingers dropping gentle dew. 4. (Bot.) A species of crowfoot. --Johnson. 5. The aurora borealis or aurora australis (northern or southern lights). Aurora borealis, i. e., northern daybreak; popularly called northern lights. A luminous meteoric phenomenon, visible only at night, and supposed to be of electrical origin. This species of light usually appears in streams, ascending toward the zenith from a dusky line or bank, a few degrees above the northern horizon; when reaching south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the dipping needle points. Occasionally the aurora appears as an arch of light across the heavens from east to west. Sometimes it assumes a wavy appearance, and the streams of light are then called merry dancers. They assume a variety of colors, from a pale red or yellow to a deep red or blood color. The Aurora australisis a corresponding phenomenon in the southern hemisphere, the streams of light ascending in the same manner from near the southern horizon.
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