Word.ws English Dictionary

St. Elmo's fire

St. Elmo's fire noun: an electrical discharge, or corona, seen around pointed objects, caused by ionization of the atmosphere during storms.

Noun

St. Elmo's fire (usually uncountable, plural St. Elmo's fires)

  1. (usually) An electrical discharge, or corona, seen around pointed objects, caused by ionization of the atmosphere during storms.
    • I can see a new horizon, underneath a blazing sky.
      I’ll be where the eagle’s flying, higher and higher!
      Gonna be a man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels.
      Take me where the future lies, in St. Elmo’s fire!1985 June 23, “St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)”, David Foster, John Parr (lyrics), performed by John Parr

St. Elmo's fire meaning in Tagalog, Arabic and Indonesian

St. Elmo's fire in Tagalog

electrical discharge
igneyo, igneo, santelmo

St. Elmo's fire in Arabic

electrical discharge
شَرَر القِدِّيس إِلْمُو šarar al-qiddīs ʔilmū

St. Elmo's fire in Indonesian

electrical discharge
api Santa Elmo

Synonyms of St. Elmo's fire

Forms of St. Elmo's fire

pluralSt. Elmo's fires
alternative formSt Elmo's fire
alternative formSaint Elmo's fire
alternative formSt. Ulmo's fire

Origin of St. Elmo's fire

After Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors, also known as St. Elmo.

Questions about St. Elmo's fire

What does St. Elmo's fire mean?
St. Elmo's fire means an electrical discharge, or corona, seen around pointed objects, caused by ionization of the atmosphere during storms.
What is St. Elmo's fire in Tagalog?
St. Elmo's fire in Tagalog is igneyo, igneo, santelmo. See St. Elmo's fire meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is St. Elmo's fire?
St. Elmo's fire is a noun.
What is the plural of St. Elmo's fire?
The plural of St. Elmo's fire is St. Elmo's fires.

Words near St. Elmo's fire in the dictionary

  1. St. Cuthbert's duck
  2. St. David's
  3. St. Dominguan
  4. St. Dominguans
  5. St. Domingue
  6. St. Elmo's fire
  7. St. Elmo's fires
  8. St. Elmo's light
  9. St. Elmo's lights
  10. St. Elsewhere
  11. St. Felix

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: St. Elmo's fire (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-St. Elmo's fire.wav.

Cite this entry: “St. Elmo's fire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/st._elmo%27s_fire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.