Word of the Day for Thursday, January 6, 2011
chatoyant \shuh-TOI-uhnt\, adjective:1. Having changeable lustre; twinkling.2. (Of a gem, esp a cabochon) displaying a band of light reflected off inclusions of other minerals.
Chatoyant is that kind of white which the eye of a cat assumes in the dark: The translator observes, truly, that there is no English word for it; the idea is that of a semi-transparent whiteness.
-- M. de Foucroy. Tobias George Smollett -, "Elements of Natural History, and of Chemistry," The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature: Volume 63 - Page 169
Its chatoyant, iridescent colors suggest the fancy that it might have had its birth in the crystallization of some magnificent aurora.Chatoyant's poetic origin lies in the French chatoyer, "to gleam like a cat's eyes," from the French chat, "cat."
-- R.G. Taber, "An Outing in Labrador," Outing: sport, adventure, travel, fiction, Volume 27, 1896
