scintillate

Verb

scintillate (third-person singular simple present scintillates, present participle scintillating, simple past and past participle scintillated)

1. (intransitive) To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to twinkle or glow.
   • Much interest appears to have been lately excited in England by Dr. Clarke's Experiments on the Blow-pipe, and the dangers of explosion attempted to be guarded against, by various contrivances. The following letter inserted in the Philosophical Magazine for December 1816, will show the importance...1817, “The New Blow-pipe”, in The Eclectic Repertory, and Analytical Review, Medical and Philosophical, volume VII, number XXVI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by Thomas Dobson and Son, at the Stone...
   • In fact, the whole place scintillated. Madame scintillated with combs and finery and jewellery behind the counter, mirrors innumerable scintillated behind Madame, whilst the ragtime scintillated from (as I discovered) a pianola […]1920, The Cornhill Magazine, London: Smith, Elder & Co., →OCLC, page 737
2. Of a star or other celestial body: to vary rapidly in brightness; to twinkle.
   • Do the stars scintillate at all altitudes? Is there any altitude at which it ceases to manifest itself? At Morges the stars in general scintillate at all altitudes, although feebly near the zenith; but on the nights when the scintillation is very faint, it ceases completely at a zenith distance of...1857 December 11, Charles Dufour, “Notes on the Scintillation of the Stars. By Professor Dufour. (Extracts of Letters to Professor Piazzi Smyth.)”, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical...
   • It is generally believed that the planets do not scintillate at all, or scarcely at all. Nevertheless I have often observed a sensible scintillation of Venus and Mars, and in a few rare cases I have also observed a slight scintillation of Jupiter and Saturn. […] I would therefore call the attention...1860 March, Charles Dufour, “XXIX. Instructions for the Better Observation of the Scintillation of the Stars. By Charles Dufour, Professor of Mathematics at Morges.”, in The London, Edinburgh, and...
3. (nuclear physics) Especially of a phosphor: to emit a flash of light upon absorbing ionizing radiation.
4. (intransitive) To dazzle or to impress.
5. (archaic, transitive) To throw off like sparks.
   • As a boy young Arabin took up the cudgels on the side of the Tractarians, and at Oxford he sat for a while at the feet of the great [John Henry] Newman. To this cause he lent all his faculties. For it he concocted verses, for it he made speeches, for it he scintillated the brightest sparks of his...1857, Anthony Trollope, “Mr. Arabin”, in Barchester Towers: In Three Volumes, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, OCLC 911659634; republished as Barchester Towers. … In Two Volumes...
   • [T]he adrenaline in my veins scintillated the surface of my skin sending chills all over my body.2010, Stony Stern, Run Past The Hunter, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 158