Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

halo

[hey-loh]

Example Sentences Origin

Like The Halo Games? www.embracethedarkness.com The Darkness II Is Coming. Play The Demo For Free Now!

Xbox Consoles - MS Store www.microsoftstore.com/LA Compare Consoles, Play Games & More at Microsoft Store Today.

Dictionary.com Free Toolbar Dictionary.com Define Halo Instantly. Faster Page Loads With Fewer Ads.

Ads

noun

Also called nimbus. a geometric shape, usually in the form of a disk, circle, ring, or rayed structure, traditionally representing a radiant light around or above the head of a divine or sacred personage, an ancient or medieval monarch, etc.

an atmosphere or quality of glory, majesty, sanctity, or the like: the halo around Shakespeare's works; She put a halo around her son.

Meteorology. any of a variety of bright circles or arcs centered on the sun or moon, caused by the refraction or reflection of light by ice crystals suspended in the earth's atmosphere and exhibiting prismatic coloration ranging from red inside to blue outside (distinguished from corona).

Astronomy. a spherical cloud of gas clusters and stars that form part of a spiral galaxy.

an undesirable bright or dark ring surrounding an image on the fluorescent screen of a television tube, due to some fault either in transmission or reception.

verb (used with object)

to surround with a halo.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Halo is always a great word to know.

So is hurricane warning. Does it mean:

precipitation consisting of small, slowly falling crystals of ice

a storm warning given for winds with speeds exceeding 63 knots (72 mph, 32 m/sec) when the source of the winds is a tropical cyclone

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

to form a halo.

Origin:
1555–65; < Latin, accusative of halōs circle round sun or moon < Greek hálōs such a circle, disk, orig. threshing floor

Related forms

un·ha·loed, adjective

Example Sentences

Abstract painting is surrounded by a halo of uncertainty.

The senator is shown in a sort of monk outfit, and he has a hand halo as well as the normal head halo.

The full moon is sometimes surrounded by a ring or halo of light.

EXPAND

Abstract painting is surrounded by a halo of uncertainty.

The senator is shown in a sort of monk outfit, and he has a hand halo as well as the normal head halo.

The full moon is sometimes surrounded by a ring or halo of light.

Toby41--usually a big halo around the moon is an indication of the humidity in the air.

As the shine comes off his halo the real work of governing will grow harder.

The ash drifted around the globe, causing spectacular sunsets and halo effects around the moon and sun.

I'd have hoped that the presumed dark matter halo and its motions would be illustrated by an enormous blue cloud.

Yet the company's halo has slipped because of the debacle at its finance arm.

And engulfing all that our telescopes can see is an enormous halo of dark matter that they can't.

Surrounding it is a halo colored electric white, which gives way to deep blues and blacks in the outer reaches of the plane.

But its hot halo of shooting blue, purple and pink lights is visible only in person.

The energy released during these collisions causes a colorful glowing halo around the poles-an aurora.

And around the halo of secondary rent-seekers is a larger halo of tertiary rent-seekers, and so on.

It is surrounded by an extended halo of dark matter.

But her sparkling energy, which radiates from a trim figure topped with a halo of blond curls, is contagious.

They had their good points, but to put a tin halo on the lot of them does us all a.

The visible matter of a galaxy, in other words, must be embedded in a halo of something invisible or else it would fly apart.

Her body was fringed in a halo of light on the dim stage.

Newton's reflecting telescope got rid of the halo of light surrounding target objects that had plagued lens-based telescopes.

Ford is on a roll thanks to its improving product quality and the halo effect of having avoided bankruptcy.

Not visible in the new pictures is the larger halo of ice grains and dust that surrounds the comet's nucleus.

He's not wearing the halo of a saint, but a saint is blessing him.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

a combining form meaning “salt,” used in the formation of compound words (halophyte); sometimes specialized as a combining form of halogen (halothane).

Also, especially before a vowel, hal-.

Origin:
< Greek, combining form of háls salt

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To halo

Collins

World English Dictionary

halo (ˈheɪləʊ)

—n , pl -loes, -los
1.	a disc or ring of light around the head of an angel, saint, etc, as in painting or sculpture
2.	the aura surrounding an idealized, famous, or admired person, thing, or event
3.	a circle of light around the sun or moon, caused by the refraction of light by particles of ice
4.	astronomy a spherical cloud of stars surrounding the Galaxy and other spiral galaxies

—vb , -loes, -los, -loes, -los, -loing, -loed
5.	to surround with or form a halo

[C16: from Medieval Latin, from Latin halōs circular threshing floor, from Greek]

'halo-like

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

halo

1563, from L. halo (acc.), from Gk. halos "disk of the sun or moon, ring of light around the sun or moon" (also "threshing floor" and "disk of a shield"), of unknown origin. Sense of "light around the head of a holy person or deity" first recorded 1646.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

halo ha·lo (hā'lō)
n. pl. ha·los or ha·loes

A reddish yellow ring surrounding the optic disk, caused by an expansion of the scleral ring that makes the deeper structures visible.
Glaucomatous halo.
A ring of light surrounding a luminous body.

halo- or hal-
pref.

Salt: halophilic.
Halogen: halide.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

halo (hā'lō) Pronunciation Key
A hazy ring of colored light in the sky around the Sun, Moon, or a similar bright object. A halo is caused by the reflection and refraction of light through atmospheric ice crystals.

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for halo?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

around aureole Cellini's halo circle cirrostratus corona

Matching Quote

"There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities."

-Herman Melville

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help