SHAFT OF LIGHT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shaft of light mean? 

• SHAFT OF LIGHT (noun)
  The noun SHAFT OF LIGHT has 1 sense:

1. a column of light (as from a beacon)

  Familiarity information: SHAFT OF LIGHT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHAFT OF LIGHT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A column of light (as from a beacon)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

beam; beam of light; irradiation; light beam; ray; ray of light; shaft; shaft of light

Hypernyms ("shaft of light" is a kind of...):

light; visible light; visible radiation ((physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shaft of light"):

heat ray (a ray that produces a thermal effect)

high beam (the beam of a car's headlights that provides distant illumination)

moon-ray; moon ray; moonbeam (a ray of moonlight)

sunbeam; sunray (a ray of sunlight)

laser beam (a beam of light generated by a laser)

low beam (the beam of a car's headlights that provides illumination for a short distance)

 Context examples 

Vivid orchids and wonderful colored lichens smoldered upon the swarthy tree-trunks and where a wandering shaft of light fell full upon the golden allamanda, the scarlet star-clusters of the tacsonia, or the rich deep blue of ipomaea, the effect was as a dream of fairyland.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)