corposantn.
/ˈkɔːpəzant/ a. The ball of light which is sometimes seen on a ship (esp. about the masts or yardarms) during a storm; also called ‘St. Elmo's Fire’.
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1561 R. Eden tr. M. Cortés Arte Nauigation ii. xx. sig. G.iiiv Shining exhalations that appeare in tempestes: whiche the Mariners call santelmo or Corpus sancti.
a1678 A. Marvell First Anniv. in Misc. Poems (1681) 126 While baleful Tritons to the shipwrack guide. And Corposants along the Tacklings slide.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xv. 414 After four a clock the Thunder and the Rain abated, and then we saw a Corpus Sant at our Main-top-mast head... This sight rejoyc'd our Men..for the height of the Storm is commonly over when the Corpus Sant is seen aloft.
1710 Brit. Apollo 30 Oct.–1 Nov. A Vapor..by Marriners call'd a Corpo Zanto.
1738 T. Shaw Trav. Barbary & Levant 363 Those luminous bodies which at sea skip about the masts and yards of ships, and are called corpusanse by the mariners.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxxiv. 131 Upon the main top-gallant masthead was a ball of light, which the sailors name a corposant (corpus sancti).
1888 Juddin Krakatoa 20 Captain Watson states that during the night the mastheads and yard-arms of his ship were ‘studded with corposants’.
b. figurative.
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the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > lightning > bead or forked lightning > St. Elmo's fire
heaven's fireOE
St. Elmo's fire1561
Hermes' fire1611
corposant1650
furole1656
Castor1708
composant1751
storm-light1843
storm-firea1847
dead-fire1854
witch-fire1892
1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 41 Some new-lighted Corpuzans of the Army, or some young Parackettoes now nursing up in the Universities..will finish the other half.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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