scintillationn.

Brit.

/ˌsɪntᵻˈleɪʃn/, U.S.

/ˌsɪn(t)əˈleɪʃən/

Forms: 1500s sintillation, 1600s– scintillation.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French scintillation; Latin scintillātiōn-, scintillātiō.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French scintillation flash of light (a1506), action of sparkling (early 16th cent.; 1740 in specific use in astronomy), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin scintillātiōn-, scintillātiō, denoting an eye disease (Pliny), literally ‘sparkling’, in post-classical Latin also denoting the twinkling of stars (from 13th cent. in British sources) < scintillāt- , past participial stem of scintillāre scintillate v. + -iō -ion suffix¹. Compare later scintillate v.

I. The action of sparkling and related senses.

a. The action or result of scintillating; emission of sparks or small flashes of light.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light > sparkling or glittering

glistening1398

sprankling1398

twinkling1398

sprinklinga1400

sparklingc1440

glisteringc1450

glister1535

glittering1567

spangling1576

scintillation1585

sparkle1589

glitter1602

sparking1611

coruscancy1630

emication1646

eruscationa1652

sparklingnessa1691

glitterance1801

glisten1840

spangle1853

sparkliness-

1585 F. Kett Glorious Garland Mans Glorification sig. K.2^v His body was lyke a Crisolite: transparent with the beautifull sintillation of golde & fire.

1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §32 That is the Spirit of God, the fire and scintillation of that noble and mighty Essence, which is the life and radical heat of spirits.

1656 T. Blount Glossographia Scintillation, a sparkling up of fire, or new wine leaping in the glass.

1671 J. Webster Metallographia vi. 96 Coruscation, or scintillation, is a certain sign of Metals that are unripe.

1797 Monthly Rev. 22 App. 574 The scintillation of any stone with steel hence affords but a very weak presumption of its siliceous nature.

1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt x. 125 The fire-balls seemed to explode, but the largest disappeared without scintillation.

1847 T. De Quincey Spanish Mil. Nun (1853) 59 The sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the morning sun.

1977 N.Y. Mag. 31 Jan. 16/3 A really imaginative new discotheque, all scintillation, and mirrors.

2008 Field & Stream Dec. 135/1 Brilliant cut jewelry that allows everyone to experience more clarity, more scintillation and larger carat weights.

b. An instance of this; a flash, spark, or sparkle.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light

sprankle1398

sparkle1490

spunkc1540

sparka1542

scintil1599

glitter1602

star1609

stricture1628

spinther1641

scintillation1646

fanglea1657

scintilla1661

sparkleta1687

twinkle1689

spangle1821

spink1829

crown jewel1851

twink1870

peep1882

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. ix. 247 Our Saviour, and the Virgin Mary..are commonly drawne with scintillations, or radiant Halo's about their head.

1760 J.-M. Leprince de Beaumont Young Ladies Mag. 1 xxxii. 146 He endeavoured to draw a scintillation from the gun-barrel.

a1800 W. Cowper tr. J. Milton in Cowper's Milton (1810) III. 267 Some scintillations of Promethean fire.

1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. iv. 36 Iron wire held in the flame burns with beautiful scintillations.

1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. ix. 234 The heat there is competent to raise iron to a temperature at which it throws off brilliant scintillations.

1923 Boys' Life Feb. 20/1 From the tie flash the scintillations of a diamond as big as a walnut.

1936 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 51/3 Sparks will fly about with beautiful scintillations like those produced by an oxyacetylene torch.

2004 N.Y. Sun (Nexis) 25 Mar. 15 Glass objects are arranged on a reflective surface and lighted to maximize scintillations.

2. Astronomy. Originally: the twinkling or tremulous motion of stars, caused by the atmosphere diffracting starlight unevenly. In later use also: a similar effect with other light sources or celestial objects observed or detected through a gaseous medium or a plasma.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > star > star-matter > [noun] > brightness > scintillation

scintillation1652

the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > starlight > twinkling of

scintillation1652

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 115 About the magnitude of the Stars... About their scintillation, or their trepidation.

1675 E. Sherburne tr. C. Scheiner in tr. M. Manilius Sphere App. 157 The Scintillation of the Stars (sayes he) is not their proper Revolution or Convolution not any intern exestuating Commotion.

1728 tr. I. Newton Treat. Syst. World 117 It is rather to be ascribed to a casual refraction of clouds, as well as the radiation and scintillation of the fixed Stars to the refractions both of the eyes and air.

1789 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 79 261 When I look at the brighter fixed stars, at considerable elevations,..they appear to me without scintillation.

1862 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1861 225 Venus and Mars have often a very perceptible scintillation.

1873 J. F. W. Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. vii. §101. 317 The twinkling of the stars and the changes of colour they exhibit during the different phases of their scintillations.

1882 T. Hardy Two on Tower I. vii. 67 Scintillation is the simplest thing in the world,—merely a matter of atmosphere.

1922 C. F. Talman Meteorology x. 174 Currents of air of different densities produce..the twinkling or scintillation of the stars, as well as of distant terrestrial lights.

1952 Jrnl. Atmospheric & Terrestr. Physics 2 356 During aurorae, the scintillations of radio stars are, on the average, four times more rapid.

2010 C. Aerts et al. Asteroseismology iv. 306 For bright asteroseismic target stars for which the limiting noise source is scintillation, larger telescope apertures are needed.

3. Flashing of the eyes, esp. as a sign of anger or ferocity; an instance of this, a gleam.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light > from the eyes

scintillation1773

1773 G. Steevens Note on Julius Caesar i. iii. 21 in S. Johnson & G. Steevens Plays of Shakespeare (rev. ed.) VIII. 19 The furious scintillation of a lion's eyes.

1850 A. Leighton in Wilson's Tales Borders (N.Y. ed.) V. 175/1 While the fire flashed frae his ee in almost palpable scintillations o' fury.

1867 R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower II. xvii. 254 An angry scintillation flashes from Dolly's superb black eyes.

1910 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Daily Press 5 Oct. 3/1 The light above struck blind on the glass in one eye, but the other danced with a genial, a mad scintillation.

1994 C. F. Edinger tr. J. M. de Alencar Senhora i. x. 49 A warm smile..obliterated the fierceness of her gesture and the scintillation in her eye.

4. Medicine. A subjective visual disturbance as of a flash or spark of light, typically occurring as a symptom of migraine; usually in plural. Also as a mass noun: the occurrence of such sensations.

ΚΠ

1811 Amer. Med. Lexicon at Eclampsia It is a flashing light, or those sparklings which strike the eyes of epileptic patients. Cælius Aurelianus calls them circuli ignei, scintillations or fiery circles.

1842 Provinc. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 19 Feb. 410/1 Neither headache, scintillations, or any cerebral affection.

1878 Lancet 19 Jan. 84 Periodic hemiopia is observed sometimes in pregnant women, but then it is accompanied neither by scintillations nor by headache.

1917 M. L. Foster tr. P. Roemer Textbk. Ophthalmol. (rev. ed.) clxi. 668 As soon as the limit of the visual field in the outer half of both eyes has been reached the scintillations cease and vision slowly returns from the centre.

1998 Headache 38 356 In the migraine with aura group, the most common aura was visual disturbance, including scintillation and image distortion.

2011 E. A. MacGregor & A. Gendolla in P. Martelletti & T. J. Steiner Handb. Headache xlix. 627 All six women developed increased headache severity and accompanying visual scintillations.

5. Nuclear Physics. A small flash of light emitted by fluorescence in a phosphor when it is struck by a charged particle or a high-energy photon; the occurrence of such flashes, as an observable phenomenon. Frequently attributive (see Compounds).

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle

scintillation1903

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > fluorescent material > light from

scintillation1903

1903 W. Crookes in Science 26 June 1002/1 Bringing the radium nearer the screen the scintillations become more numerous and brighter.

1911 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 569 The scintillation of the zinc sulphide in the spinthariscope.

1915 Arch. Radiol. & Electro-therapy 20 183 The phosphorescence observed by the naked eye is..found to consist of individual instantaneous flashes or ‘scintillations’, each produced by the impact of a single α particle.

1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors vi. 68 The scintillations must pass from phosphor to photocathode with minimum absorption at intervening surfaces.

1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context vi. 65 Before very long radioactive substances had been shown to cause another effect which could be used to detect their radiations—scintillation.

2012 J. T. Bushberg et al. Essent. Physics Med. Imaging (ed. 3) ix. 292 Before the late 1950s, fluoroscopy was performed in a darkened room with the radiologist viewing the faint scintillations from a thick fluorescent screen.

6. Radar. A rapid but spurious fluctuation in the appearance, esp. the brightness (amplitude), of a signal on a radar screen.

ΚΠ

1960 U.S Patent 2,952,845 1 The ability of the groundbased radar to accurately define the position of an aircraft is greatly degraded by scintillation or glint of the radar echo.

1989 J. A. C. Kinnear in D. H. Middleton Avionic Syst. ix. 205 As a target moves relative to the radar, the radar echo will be subject to rapid fluctuations in amplitude, known as ‘scintillation’ or ‘fading’.

2010 E. Lovick Radar Man 111 Frequency stepping provided a means for simulating the effect of target scintillation and removing the large excursions of signal level.

II. figurative.

7. A sudden instance or manifestation of a quality; esp. a brilliant or sparkling example of thought, conversation, etc. (also as a mass noun).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > [noun] > outburst of wit

escapea1616

scintillationa1630

excursion1662

a1630 S. Page Broken Heart (1637) xi. 120 Many upon some good motions of the spirit, some flashes of piety and scintillations of zeale doe overweene their possession of this spirit.

1650 in N. Murford Fragmenta Poetica sig. A5^v Sparks of wit And Scintillations of thy brain made fit Our indisposed Fancies, to produce Impressions propagated from thy Muse.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋7 A man who..dazzles the attention with sudden scintillations of conceit.

1821 V. Knox Remarks Gram. Schools 77 Displaying..scintillations of great genius.

a1864 J. F. Ferrier Lect. Greek Philos. (1866) I. xii. 349 Every time his pages are turned they throw forth..new scintillations of thought.

1927 Rotarian Dec. 47/1 The pointed and brilliant scintillations of wit and fancy.

1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 July 746/3 If we go right back to the beginnings of children's books.., we find a fair amount of gravity and not too much scintillation.

8. A tiny amount of something; a jot, an iota. Now rare. N.E.D. (1910) marks this sense as erroneous, remarking: ‘Misused for scintilla.’

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > the smallest amount > a jot

cornc888

grotc888

prickleOE

prickOE

pointc1300

grain1377

hair1377

motec1390

twynt1399

mitec1400

tarec1405

drop1413

ace?1440

tittlea1450

whita1450

jot1526

Jack1530

plack1530

farthingc1540

minima1585

scintil1599

atom1626

scintillation1650

punct1653

doit1660

scintilla1674

rap1792

haet1802

dottle1808

smiggot1823

hooter1839

heartbeat1855

pick1866

filament1868

hoot1878

1650 E. Williams Virginia's Discov. Silke-worms Ep. sig. A3^v A Publique incouragement..would awaken all spirits which have any scintillation of Honour, or industry, to undertake the imployment.

1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 5 Had he had the least scintillation of animosity, or majestick indignation.

1795 R. Warner Hist. Isle of Wight. 266 They will of course remain savage and unenlightened; nor can any scintillation of improvement be expected to appear in their minds and manners, till [etc.].

1833 Niles' Weekly Reg. 25 May 206/1 A vast majority..believe, without a scintillation of doubt, that [etc.].

1865 E. M. Goulburn On Fasting & Almsgiving i. iii. 32 If the soul has the least scintillation of a desire to be holy.

1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life I. 240 He..had not a scintillation of eloquence, and his manner was brusque.

1916 Winnipeg Free Press 14 Dec. 11/2 They showed no scintillation of sympathy with the struggle of the Mexican people.

Compounds

C1. General attributive in sense 5, as scintillation fluid, scintillation method, scintillation phosphor, scintillation vial, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > method of counting scattered particles

scintillation method1906

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > method of detecting

scintillation method1906

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device > component of

scintillation fluid1959

1906 E. Rutherford Radioactive Transformations x. 229 It was also found that the range in air of the α particles expelled from thorium B, determined both by the electrical and scintillation methods, was about 8.6 cms., or about 1.6 cms. greater than that for the α particles from radium C.

1929 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 123 375 The number of α-particles scattered through an angle of about 135° is counted by the scintillation method.

1951 Physical Rev. 83 467/1 (heading) Scintillation spectroscopy of the gamma-rays from slow neutron capture in manganese.

1952 Rev. Sci. Instruments 23 301/1 The detecting element is a scintillation phosphor of the usual kind and a photomultiplier tube.

1952 Rev. Sci. Instruments 23 503/2 These assemblies have been found to satisfy all the requirements of scintillation spectrometry as well as ordinary gamma-ray counting.

1953 F. Gaynor & A. von Zeppelin tr. W. Heisenberg Nucl. Physics vii. 141 We shall begin with the instruments of detection and study. The oldest method is the scintillation method.

1959 Arch. Biochem. & Biophysics 81 382 Cholesterol specific activities were measured by..adding 1 ml. absolute ethanol and 13 ml. scintillation fluid..and counting in a Packard Tri-Carb counter.

1961 Biophysica et Biochemica Acta 48 343 After 1 h of additional shaking, the contents of the center well were transferred into a scintillation vial.

1990 Jrnl. Developmental Physiol. 14 61/1 The filters were washed by a 5 ml ice cold stop solution and placed in a scintillation vial.

2004 H. J. McDermott Air Monitoring for Toxic Exposures (ed. 2) xv. 459/2 Remove the filter from the holder using forceps and carefully place it facing the scintillation phosphor.

C2.

scintillation cocktail n. Science a liquid in which is dissolved a small amount of scintillant, to give a solution for use in scintillation counting; also as a mass noun.

ΚΠ

1965 Biochem. Pharmacol. 14 701 The radioactive carbon dioxide was bound directly into an ethanolamine-containing scintillation cocktail: amounts of 50 ml in each of the two connected absorption vials were found to suffice.

1990 M. Lóden in B. Kemppainen & W. G. Reifenrath Methods for Skin Absorption viii. 130 Scintillation cocktail is dispensed into approximately ten counting vials.

2004 M. Pöschl in L. M. Nollet Handbk. Food Anal. (ed. 2) III. liv. 1990/1 The technique..involves placing the sample containing the radioactivity in a glass or plastic container..and adding a special scintillation cocktail.

scintillation counter n. a particle counter consisting of a scintillation detector and an electronic counting circuit.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of

Cerenkov effect1940

scintillation counter1947

scintillation detector1949

scintillation spectrometer1949

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device

scintillation counter1947

scintillation spectrometer1949

1947 Rev. Sci. Instruments 18 767 (title) Scintillation counter for the detection of α‐particles.

1986 Offshore Engineer Sept. 61/2 Gamma ray logs measure the natural gamma radiation emissions of the formation using a scintillation counter.

2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) June 19/2 The Borexino detector in Gran Sasso, Italy, a gargantuan liquid scintillation counter designed to catch solar neutrinos, reported an observation of ‘geo-neutrinos’ from the earth.

scintillation counting n. the counting of scintillations (sense 5), esp. as a procedure to analyse a substance when it has been dissolved in a liquid containing a scintillant.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device > use of

scintillation counting1928

proportional counting1939

1928 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 121 368 Geiger and Werner..made a careful determination by the method of scintillation counting with a zinc sulphide screen.

1949 Nucleonics Oct. 30/2 During the past year the technique of scintillation counting has been considerably advanced and the applications to nuclear research have become widespread.

2002 Carcinogenesis 23 2044/1 The extent of radiolabeled BPdG modification was established by liquid scintillation counting in sextuplicate.

scintillation detector n. a detector for charged particles and gamma rays in which scintillations produced in a phosphor are detected and amplified by a photomultiplier, giving an electrical output signal.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles

scintillation detector1949

scintillator1952

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > gamma radiation > [noun] > detector of

scintillation detector1949

scintillator1952

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of

Cerenkov effect1940

scintillation counter1947

scintillation detector1949

scintillation spectrometer1949

1949 Rev. Sci. Instruments 20 963/1 (title) Pulse-height limiting circuit for a scintillation detector.

1977 Dædalus Fall 42 The detectors used in the balloon flights were mainly scintillation detectors, which are particularly useful for the detection of photons with energies greater than about 15 kev.

2013 J. Prekeges Nucl. Med. Instrumentation (ed. 2) ii. 21/2 The key advantage of the scintillation detector over gas-filled detectors is the connecting line between the size of the electronic signal and the energy that the gamma ray has deposited in the scintillation crystal.

scintillation screen n. a flat surface coated with a phosphor, so that ionizing particles striking it can be detected or radioactivity measured from the scintillations produced.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > method of detecting > screen used by

scintillation screen1920

1920 Sci. Amer. Monthly Oct. 140/1 A most surprising effect was observed, however, when Rutherford began to make observations in dry air or nitrogen outside the range of the N rays by means of a scintillation screen.

1955 W. Heisenberg in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 24 Schrödinger cannot hereby remove the element of discontinuity from the world, which is found everywhere in atomic physics (very obviously, for instance, on the scintillation screen).

2002 Jrnl. Coastal Res. 18 154/2 Uranium and thorium activity was measured by thick source alpha counting using a 42 mm-diameter scintillation screen of 28 sample aliquots.

scintillation spectrometer n. a form of scintillation counter with which the incident energy of the particle or gamma ray may be determined.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > gamma radiation > [noun] > spectrometer

scintillation spectrometer1949

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of

Cerenkov effect1940

scintillation counter1947

scintillation detector1949

scintillation spectrometer1949

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device

scintillation counter1947

scintillation spectrometer1949

1949 W. H. Jordan & P. R. Bell in Nucleonics Oct. 38/1 The..fact that the amount of light emitted in each flash is very nearly proportional to the energy of the particle opens up the possibility of using the instrument for measurement of gamma- and beta-ray energies. We have developed such an instrument and call it a scintillation spectrometer.

1979 Nature 25 Jan. 313/1 (caption) Radioactivity was assayed in a scintillation spectrometer after addition of 5 ml ACS scintillation fluid.

2010 Molecular Immunol. 47 1155/1 The cells were then harvested onto glass filter and the incorporation of ³H-thymidine was measured using a liquid scintillation counter (Packard Tri-Carb scintillation spectrometer).

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	scintillation
释义	scintillationn. Brit. /ˌsɪntᵻˈleɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌsɪn(t)əˈleɪʃən/ Forms: 1500s sintillation, 1600s– scintillation. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French scintillation; Latin scintillātiōn-, scintillātiō. Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French scintillation flash of light (a1506), action of sparkling (early 16th cent.; 1740 in specific use in astronomy), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin scintillātiōn-, scintillātiō, denoting an eye disease (Pliny), literally ‘sparkling’, in post-classical Latin also denoting the twinkling of stars (from 13th cent. in British sources) < scintillāt- , past participial stem of scintillāre scintillate v. + -iō -ion suffix¹. Compare later scintillate v. I. The action of sparkling and related senses. 1. a. The action or result of scintillating; emission of sparks or small flashes of light. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light > sparkling or glittering glistening1398 sprankling1398 twinkling1398 sprinklinga1400 sparklingc1440 glisteringc1450 glister1535 glittering1567 spangling1576 scintillation1585 sparkle1589 glitter1602 sparking1611 coruscancy1630 emication1646 eruscationa1652 sparklingnessa1691 glitterance1801 glisten1840 spangle1853 sparkliness- 1585 F. Kett Glorious Garland Mans Glorification sig. K.2^v His body was lyke a Crisolite: transparent with the beautifull sintillation of golde & fire. 1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §32 That is the Spirit of God, the fire and scintillation of that noble and mighty Essence, which is the life and radical heat of spirits. View more context for this quotation 1656 T. Blount Glossographia Scintillation, a sparkling up of fire, or new wine leaping in the glass. 1671 J. Webster Metallographia vi. 96 Coruscation, or scintillation, is a certain sign of Metals that are unripe. 1797 Monthly Rev. 22 App. 574 The scintillation of any stone with steel hence affords but a very weak presumption of its siliceous nature. 1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt x. 125 The fire-balls seemed to explode, but the largest disappeared without scintillation. 1847 T. De Quincey Spanish Mil. Nun (1853) 59 The sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the morning sun. 1977 N.Y. Mag. 31 Jan. 16/3 A really imaginative new discotheque, all scintillation, and mirrors. 2008 Field & Stream Dec. 135/1 Brilliant cut jewelry that allows everyone to experience more clarity, more scintillation and larger carat weights. b. An instance of this; a flash, spark, or sparkle. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light sprankle1398 sparkle1490 spunkc1540 sparka1542 scintil1599 glitter1602 star1609 stricture1628 spinther1641 scintillation1646 fanglea1657 scintilla1661 sparkleta1687 twinkle1689 spangle1821 spink1829 crown jewel1851 twink1870 peep1882 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. ix. 247 Our Saviour, and the Virgin Mary..are commonly drawne with scintillations, or radiant Halo's about their head. View more context for this quotation 1760 J.-M. Leprince de Beaumont Young Ladies Mag. 1 xxxii. 146 He endeavoured to draw a scintillation from the gun-barrel. a1800 W. Cowper tr. J. Milton in Cowper's Milton (1810) III. 267 Some scintillations of Promethean fire. 1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. iv. 36 Iron wire held in the flame burns with beautiful scintillations. 1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. ix. 234 The heat there is competent to raise iron to a temperature at which it throws off brilliant scintillations. 1923 Boys' Life Feb. 20/1 From the tie flash the scintillations of a diamond as big as a walnut. 1936 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 51/3 Sparks will fly about with beautiful scintillations like those produced by an oxyacetylene torch. 2004 N.Y. Sun (Nexis) 25 Mar. 15 Glass objects are arranged on a reflective surface and lighted to maximize scintillations. 2. Astronomy. Originally: the twinkling or tremulous motion of stars, caused by the atmosphere diffracting starlight unevenly. In later use also: a similar effect with other light sources or celestial objects observed or detected through a gaseous medium or a plasma. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > star > star-matter > [noun] > brightness > scintillation scintillation1652 the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > starlight > twinkling of scintillation1652 1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 115 About the magnitude of the Stars... About their scintillation, or their trepidation. 1675 E. Sherburne tr. C. Scheiner in tr. M. Manilius Sphere App. 157 The Scintillation of the Stars (sayes he) is not their proper Revolution or Convolution not any intern exestuating Commotion. 1728 tr. I. Newton Treat. Syst. World 117 It is rather to be ascribed to a casual refraction of clouds, as well as the radiation and scintillation of the fixed Stars to the refractions both of the eyes and air. 1789 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 79 261 When I look at the brighter fixed stars, at considerable elevations,..they appear to me without scintillation. 1862 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1861 225 Venus and Mars have often a very perceptible scintillation. 1873 J. F. W. Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. vii. §101. 317 The twinkling of the stars and the changes of colour they exhibit during the different phases of their scintillations. 1882 T. Hardy Two on Tower I. vii. 67 Scintillation is the simplest thing in the world,—merely a matter of atmosphere. 1922 C. F. Talman Meteorology x. 174 Currents of air of different densities produce..the twinkling or scintillation of the stars, as well as of distant terrestrial lights. 1952 Jrnl. Atmospheric & Terrestr. Physics 2 356 During aurorae, the scintillations of radio stars are, on the average, four times more rapid. 2010 C. Aerts et al. Asteroseismology iv. 306 For bright asteroseismic target stars for which the limiting noise source is scintillation, larger telescope apertures are needed. 3. Flashing of the eyes, esp. as a sign of anger or ferocity; an instance of this, a gleam. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [noun] > spark or glittering light > from the eyes scintillation1773 1773 G. Steevens Note on Julius Caesar i. iii. 21 in S. Johnson & G. Steevens Plays of Shakespeare (rev. ed.) VIII. 19 The furious scintillation of a lion's eyes. 1850 A. Leighton in Wilson's Tales Borders (N.Y. ed.) V. 175/1 While the fire flashed frae his ee in almost palpable scintillations o' fury. 1867 R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower II. xvii. 254 An angry scintillation flashes from Dolly's superb black eyes. 1910 Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Daily Press 5 Oct. 3/1 The light above struck blind on the glass in one eye, but the other danced with a genial, a mad scintillation. 1994 C. F. Edinger tr. J. M. de Alencar Senhora i. x. 49 A warm smile..obliterated the fierceness of her gesture and the scintillation in her eye. 4. Medicine. A subjective visual disturbance as of a flash or spark of light, typically occurring as a symptom of migraine; usually in plural. Also as a mass noun: the occurrence of such sensations. ΚΠ 1811 Amer. Med. Lexicon at Eclampsia It is a flashing light, or those sparklings which strike the eyes of epileptic patients. Cælius Aurelianus calls them circuli ignei, scintillations or fiery circles. 1842 Provinc. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 19 Feb. 410/1 Neither headache, scintillations, or any cerebral affection. 1878 Lancet 19 Jan. 84 Periodic hemiopia is observed sometimes in pregnant women, but then it is accompanied neither by scintillations nor by headache. 1917 M. L. Foster tr. P. Roemer Textbk. Ophthalmol. (rev. ed.) clxi. 668 As soon as the limit of the visual field in the outer half of both eyes has been reached the scintillations cease and vision slowly returns from the centre. 1998 Headache 38 356 In the migraine with aura group, the most common aura was visual disturbance, including scintillation and image distortion. 2011 E. A. MacGregor & A. Gendolla in P. Martelletti & T. J. Steiner Handb. Headache xlix. 627 All six women developed increased headache severity and accompanying visual scintillations. 5. Nuclear Physics. A small flash of light emitted by fluorescence in a phosphor when it is struck by a charged particle or a high-energy photon; the occurrence of such flashes, as an observable phenomenon. Frequently attributive (see Compounds). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle scintillation1903 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > fluorescent material > light from scintillation1903 1903 W. Crookes in Science 26 June 1002/1 Bringing the radium nearer the screen the scintillations become more numerous and brighter. 1911 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 569 The scintillation of the zinc sulphide in the spinthariscope. 1915 Arch. Radiol. & Electro-therapy 20 183 The phosphorescence observed by the naked eye is..found to consist of individual instantaneous flashes or ‘scintillations’, each produced by the impact of a single α particle. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors vi. 68 The scintillations must pass from phosphor to photocathode with minimum absorption at intervening surfaces. 1978 G. C. Hill & J. S. Holman Chem. in Context vi. 65 Before very long radioactive substances had been shown to cause another effect which could be used to detect their radiations—scintillation. 2012 J. T. Bushberg et al. Essent. Physics Med. Imaging (ed. 3) ix. 292 Before the late 1950s, fluoroscopy was performed in a darkened room with the radiologist viewing the faint scintillations from a thick fluorescent screen. 6. Radar. A rapid but spurious fluctuation in the appearance, esp. the brightness (amplitude), of a signal on a radar screen. ΚΠ 1960 U.S Patent 2,952,845 1 The ability of the groundbased radar to accurately define the position of an aircraft is greatly degraded by scintillation or glint of the radar echo. 1989 J. A. C. Kinnear in D. H. Middleton Avionic Syst. ix. 205 As a target moves relative to the radar, the radar echo will be subject to rapid fluctuations in amplitude, known as ‘scintillation’ or ‘fading’. 2010 E. Lovick Radar Man 111 Frequency stepping provided a means for simulating the effect of target scintillation and removing the large excursions of signal level. II. figurative. 7. A sudden instance or manifestation of a quality; esp. a brilliant or sparkling example of thought, conversation, etc. (also as a mass noun). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > [noun] > outburst of wit escapea1616 scintillationa1630 excursion1662 a1630 S. Page Broken Heart (1637) xi. 120 Many upon some good motions of the spirit, some flashes of piety and scintillations of zeale doe overweene their possession of this spirit. 1650 in N. Murford Fragmenta Poetica sig. A5^v Sparks of wit And Scintillations of thy brain made fit Our indisposed Fancies, to produce Impressions propagated from thy Muse. 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋7 A man who..dazzles the attention with sudden scintillations of conceit. 1821 V. Knox Remarks Gram. Schools 77 Displaying..scintillations of great genius. a1864 J. F. Ferrier Lect. Greek Philos. (1866) I. xii. 349 Every time his pages are turned they throw forth..new scintillations of thought. 1927 Rotarian Dec. 47/1 The pointed and brilliant scintillations of wit and fancy. 1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 July 746/3 If we go right back to the beginnings of children's books.., we find a fair amount of gravity and not too much scintillation. 8. A tiny amount of something; a jot, an iota. Now rare. N.E.D. (1910) marks this sense as erroneous, remarking: ‘Misused for scintilla.’ ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > the smallest amount > a jot cornc888 grotc888 prickleOE prickOE pointc1300 grain1377 hair1377 motec1390 twynt1399 mitec1400 tarec1405 drop1413 ace?1440 tittlea1450 whita1450 jot1526 Jack1530 plack1530 farthingc1540 minima1585 scintil1599 atom1626 scintillation1650 punct1653 doit1660 scintilla1674 rap1792 haet1802 dottle1808 smiggot1823 hooter1839 heartbeat1855 pick1866 filament1868 hoot1878 1650 E. Williams Virginia's Discov. Silke-worms Ep. sig. A3^v A Publique incouragement..would awaken all spirits which have any scintillation of Honour, or industry, to undertake the imployment. 1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 5 Had he had the least scintillation of animosity, or majestick indignation. 1795 R. Warner Hist. Isle of Wight. 266 They will of course remain savage and unenlightened; nor can any scintillation of improvement be expected to appear in their minds and manners, till [etc.]. 1833 Niles' Weekly Reg. 25 May 206/1 A vast majority..believe, without a scintillation of doubt, that [etc.]. 1865 E. M. Goulburn On Fasting & Almsgiving i. iii. 32 If the soul has the least scintillation of a desire to be holy. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life I. 240 He..had not a scintillation of eloquence, and his manner was brusque. 1916 Winnipeg Free Press 14 Dec. 11/2 They showed no scintillation of sympathy with the struggle of the Mexican people. Compounds C1. General attributive in sense 5, as scintillation fluid, scintillation method, scintillation phosphor, scintillation vial, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > method of counting scattered particles scintillation method1906 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > method of detecting scintillation method1906 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device > component of scintillation fluid1959 1906 E. Rutherford Radioactive Transformations x. 229 It was also found that the range in air of the α particles expelled from thorium B, determined both by the electrical and scintillation methods, was about 8.6 cms., or about 1.6 cms. greater than that for the α particles from radium C. 1929 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 123 375 The number of α-particles scattered through an angle of about 135° is counted by the scintillation method. 1951 Physical Rev. 83 467/1 (heading) Scintillation spectroscopy of the gamma-rays from slow neutron capture in manganese. 1952 Rev. Sci. Instruments 23 301/1 The detecting element is a scintillation phosphor of the usual kind and a photomultiplier tube. 1952 Rev. Sci. Instruments 23 503/2 These assemblies have been found to satisfy all the requirements of scintillation spectrometry as well as ordinary gamma-ray counting. 1953 F. Gaynor & A. von Zeppelin tr. W. Heisenberg Nucl. Physics vii. 141 We shall begin with the instruments of detection and study. The oldest method is the scintillation method. 1959 Arch. Biochem. & Biophysics 81 382 Cholesterol specific activities were measured by..adding 1 ml. absolute ethanol and 13 ml. scintillation fluid..and counting in a Packard Tri-Carb counter. 1961 Biophysica et Biochemica Acta 48 343 After 1 h of additional shaking, the contents of the center well were transferred into a scintillation vial. 1990 Jrnl. Developmental Physiol. 14 61/1 The filters were washed by a 5 ml ice cold stop solution and placed in a scintillation vial. 2004 H. J. McDermott Air Monitoring for Toxic Exposures (ed. 2) xv. 459/2 Remove the filter from the holder using forceps and carefully place it facing the scintillation phosphor. C2. scintillation cocktail n. Science a liquid in which is dissolved a small amount of scintillant, to give a solution for use in scintillation counting; also as a mass noun. ΚΠ 1965 Biochem. Pharmacol. 14 701 The radioactive carbon dioxide was bound directly into an ethanolamine-containing scintillation cocktail: amounts of 50 ml in each of the two connected absorption vials were found to suffice. 1990 M. Lóden in B. Kemppainen & W. G. Reifenrath Methods for Skin Absorption viii. 130 Scintillation cocktail is dispensed into approximately ten counting vials. 2004 M. Pöschl in L. M. Nollet Handbk. Food Anal. (ed. 2) III. liv. 1990/1 The technique..involves placing the sample containing the radioactivity in a glass or plastic container..and adding a special scintillation cocktail. scintillation counter n. a particle counter consisting of a scintillation detector and an electronic counting circuit. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of Cerenkov effect1940 scintillation counter1947 scintillation detector1949 scintillation spectrometer1949 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device scintillation counter1947 scintillation spectrometer1949 1947 Rev. Sci. Instruments 18 767 (title) Scintillation counter for the detection of α‐particles. 1986 Offshore Engineer Sept. 61/2 Gamma ray logs measure the natural gamma radiation emissions of the formation using a scintillation counter. 2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) June 19/2 The Borexino detector in Gran Sasso, Italy, a gargantuan liquid scintillation counter designed to catch solar neutrinos, reported an observation of ‘geo-neutrinos’ from the earth. scintillation counting n. the counting of scintillations (sense 5), esp. as a procedure to analyse a substance when it has been dissolved in a liquid containing a scintillant. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device > use of scintillation counting1928 proportional counting1939 1928 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 121 368 Geiger and Werner..made a careful determination by the method of scintillation counting with a zinc sulphide screen. 1949 Nucleonics Oct. 30/2 During the past year the technique of scintillation counting has been considerably advanced and the applications to nuclear research have become widespread. 2002 Carcinogenesis 23 2044/1 The extent of radiolabeled BPdG modification was established by liquid scintillation counting in sextuplicate. scintillation detector n. a detector for charged particles and gamma rays in which scintillations produced in a phosphor are detected and amplified by a photomultiplier, giving an electrical output signal. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles scintillation detector1949 scintillator1952 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > gamma radiation > [noun] > detector of scintillation detector1949 scintillator1952 the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of Cerenkov effect1940 scintillation counter1947 scintillation detector1949 scintillation spectrometer1949 1949 Rev. Sci. Instruments 20 963/1 (title) Pulse-height limiting circuit for a scintillation detector. 1977 Dædalus Fall 42 The detectors used in the balloon flights were mainly scintillation detectors, which are particularly useful for the detection of photons with energies greater than about 15 kev. 2013 J. Prekeges Nucl. Med. Instrumentation (ed. 2) ii. 21/2 The key advantage of the scintillation detector over gas-filled detectors is the connecting line between the size of the electronic signal and the energy that the gamma ray has deposited in the scintillation crystal. scintillation screen n. a flat surface coated with a phosphor, so that ionizing particles striking it can be detected or radioactivity measured from the scintillations produced. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > method of detecting > screen used by scintillation screen1920 1920 Sci. Amer. Monthly Oct. 140/1 A most surprising effect was observed, however, when Rutherford began to make observations in dry air or nitrogen outside the range of the N rays by means of a scintillation screen. 1955 W. Heisenberg in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 24 Schrödinger cannot hereby remove the element of discontinuity from the world, which is found everywhere in atomic physics (very obviously, for instance, on the scintillation screen). 2002 Jrnl. Coastal Res. 18 154/2 Uranium and thorium activity was measured by thick source alpha counting using a 42 mm-diameter scintillation screen of 28 sample aliquots. scintillation spectrometer n. a form of scintillation counter with which the incident energy of the particle or gamma ray may be determined. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > gamma radiation > [noun] > spectrometer scintillation spectrometer1949 the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > apparatus for detecting charged particles > [noun] > flash occasioned by charged particle > detector or counter of Cerenkov effect1940 scintillation counter1947 scintillation detector1949 scintillation spectrometer1949 the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > alpha radiation > [noun] > detector for charged particles > with counting device scintillation counter1947 scintillation spectrometer1949 1949 W. H. Jordan & P. R. Bell in Nucleonics Oct. 38/1 The..fact that the amount of light emitted in each flash is very nearly proportional to the energy of the particle opens up the possibility of using the instrument for measurement of gamma- and beta-ray energies. We have developed such an instrument and call it a scintillation spectrometer. 1979 Nature 25 Jan. 313/1 (caption) Radioactivity was assayed in a scintillation spectrometer after addition of 5 ml ACS scintillation fluid. 2010 Molecular Immunol. 47 1155/1 The cells were then harvested onto glass filter and the incorporation of ³H-thymidine was measured using a liquid scintillation counter (Packard Tri-Carb scintillation spectrometer). This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1585
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