ray of light

English

Various rays of light in a cave in Indonesia

Pronunciation

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Noun

ray of light (plural rays of light)

1. (physics) A path a photon or a group of photons takes through space, visible as a column of light.
2. (idiomatic) An inspiring or enlightening person or thing.
   • 2009, D.M. Armstrong, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 5:

     I think he was somewhat lost for a political position - a simple conservatism did not attract him - and I make the guess that Arnold had been a spar that he got hold of as he struggled to find a political position. I was certainly in that position, having been persuaded by Anderson, especially at the lunch-hour meetings of his Free-thought Society, of the bankruptcy of the Left. Arnold came to me as a most welcome ray of light.

   • 2020 August 26, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: Catastrophe at Carmont”, in Rail, page 4:

     A ray of light amid all this nonsense was Gwyn Topham's piece in the Guardian, which was timely, measured, accurate and of appropriate tone. That this single report stood out so clearly as an exemplar is a scathing comment in itself on the volumes of drivel surrounding it.

Translations

column of light

• Catalan: raig de llum m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 光線／光线 (zh) (guāngxiàn), 光芒 (zh) (guāngmáng)

• Dutch: lichtstraal (nl) f
• Finnish: valonsäde (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Lichtstrahl (de) m
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lysstråle m

  Nynorsk: lysstråle m

• Portuguese: raio de luz m
• Russian: луч све́та m (luč svéta)
• Spanish: rayo de luz m

inspiring person

• Catalan: musa (ca) f, llumenera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: valo pimeydessä, valo pimeyden keskellä, valonpilkahdus, ilopilleri (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: inspiración (es) f, musa (es)