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May 21, 2010
This week's themeWhose what? This week's words Ockham's razor Morton's fork Hobson's choice Achilles' heel St. Elmo's fire 
St. Elmo's fire on a ship
An illustration from the 1875 book The Aerial World by Dr. G. Hartwig
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargSt. Elmo's fire
PRONUNCIATION:
(saynt EL-mohz fyr)
MEANING:
noun:
An electrical discharge visible at the surface of a conductor,
as a ship's mast or an airplane's wing.
ETYMOLOGY:
After St. Erasmus (mispronounced as Elmo by sailors) who is regarded as the
patron saint of sailors and an electrical discharge on the mast of a ship is
believed to be a sign of his protection. This phenomenon of corona discharge
is also called St. Elmo's light.
USAGE:
"When Capt Moody opened the door to the cockpit he saw the windscreen
ablaze with a St. Elmo's fire -- a discharge of static electricity."When Volcanic Ash Stopped a Jumbo at 37,000ft; BBC News (London, UK); Apr 15, 2010. "Donald Holder's lighting design needed more pizzazz, particularly in scenes like the storm that sparks St. Elmo's fire on the ship's masts." Heidi Waleson; Taming the Whale; The Wall Street Journal (New York); May 4, 2010. See more usage examples of St. Elmo's fire in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me. -Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)
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