strikingly glowing
marked brilliance of expression
oh incandescence
Rereading Edmund Morris’s book on Thomas Edison at the same time the end of the incandescent lightbulb put in mind to write about two things.
One is the incandescent lightbulb itself.
I am fascinated in this age when old invention exist.
I think of the qwerty keyboard.
Who could guess that such and invention would be driving computers worldwide to this day.
The feller who invented it may not recognize the computer but he would be able to type on the keyboard.
And the electric lightbuld.
The glass bulb and the filament.
The only visual change from that bulb and the one Thomas Edison first showed off in 1879 except that soon after being introduced one of Edison’s engineer came up with the threaded base so it could be screwed into a socket and if held upside down, would not slide out of the socket.
I will miss these light bulbs
Even if I don’t notice when they are being replaced.
The other thing I want to comment on is that most marvelous of words, incandescence.
The word is not onomatopoeic but is it autological or a word that describes itself?
Can it be autological when it has so many meanings?
Incandescence.
Look at the online Merriam-Webster.
incandescent
adjective
in·can·des·cent ˌin-kən-ˈde-sᵊnt
1
a : white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat
b : strikingly bright, radiant, or clear
c: marked by brilliance especially of expression incandescent wit
d: characterized by glowing zeal : ARDENT incandescent affection
2
a: of, relating to, or being light produced by incandescence
b: producing light by incandescence
Then, wikipedia explains Incandescence as the emission of electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) from a hot body as a result of its high temperature. The term derives from the Latin verb incandescere, to glow white.
If you needed a word that described glowing, or luminous with intense heat, strikingly bright, radiant, or clear – marked by brilliance especially of expression – characterized by glowing zeal as well as emission of electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) from a hot body as a result of its high temperature, what word could you come up with other than incandescent.
I am also reminded of a dress was made for Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt. of yellow satin, decorated with glass pearls and beads in a lightning-bolt pattern. A built-in battery lit a light bulb she carried, which she could raise over her head like the Statue of Liberty, made for a masquerade ball that was held in New York City on March 26, 1883. The ball was hosted by Alice Vanderbilt’s sister-in-law, Alva Vanderbilt, as a housewarming party for Alva and William K. Vanderbilt’s new mansion at 660 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The house was one of the first with Mr. Edison’s electric lights.
As Bill Bryson writes in his book, The Home, this was possibly the only occasion in her life in which she could be described as radiant.
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