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Word of the Day

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

luminary

\LOO-muh-nair-ee\ , noun;
1.
Any body that gives light, especially one of the heavenly bodies.
2.
A person of eminence or brilliant achievement.
Quotes:
There's something comforting in those occasional lapses when a luminary lurches and trips over the humble stone his powerful torch somehow failed to reveal.
-- Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This", New York Times, August 30, 1998
. . .such jazz luminaries as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Louis Armstrong, and Earl Hines.
-- Daniel Mark Epstein, Nat King Cole
Origin:
Luminary derives from Latin luminare, "a window," from lumin-, lumen, "light."
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