different between sparkle vs sunbeam

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sp??k?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sp??k?l/
• Rhymes: -??(r)k?l
• Homophone: SPARQL

Etymology 1

From Middle English sparkel, sparkle, sparcle, equivalent to spark +? -le (diminutive suffix).

Noun

sparkle (countable and uncountable, plural sparkles)

1. A little spark; a scintillation.
   • 1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II

     The shock was sufficiently strong to strike out some sparkles of his fiery temper.

2. Brilliance; luster.

3. Liveliness; vivacity.

4. The quality of being sparkling or fizzy; effervescence.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark +? -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”).

Alternative forms

• sparckle, sparcle (obsolete)

Verb

sparkle (third-person singular simple present sparkles, present participle sparkling, simple past and past participle sparkled)

1. (intransitive) To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles

2. (by extension) To shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle

   • A Mantelet vp on his shulder hangynge
     Bretful of Rubies reede / as fyr sparklynge
3. (intransitive) To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.
4. (intransitive) To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce

5. (transitive) To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To disperse.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To scatter on or over.

Synonyms

• (glisten, flash): shine, glisten, scintillate, radiate, coruscate, glitter, twinkle

Derived terms

• asparkle
• sparkler
• sparkling water

Translations

References

• sparkle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• kerslap

Middle English

Noun

sparkle

1. Alternative form of sparkel

English

Etymology

From Middle English *sonne-beme (attested only as Middle English sonnes bem, sonnes beme and also as beem of the sonne), from Old English sunnb?am, sunneb?am (“sunbeam”), equivalent to sun +? beam.

Noun

sunbeam (plural sunbeams)

1. A visible, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight.
   • 1957, Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art, page 90,

     I cut-in various other material to this; for instance, a shot of a rushing brook in springtime, with dancing sunbeams reflected in the water; of birds splashing in the village pond; and, finally, of a laughing child.

   • 2001, Raymond L. Lee, Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science, page 116,

     Similarly, the rays diverging from the sun will pass by you and converge on the point directly opposite the sun, the shadow of your head. All sunbeams, and thus all shadows, appear to converge there. […] Only perspective makes all shadows appear to converge on the antisolar point. But this point is also the center of the rainbow, so as you look at the rainbow, all sunbeams and shadows will lie along radii of the bow as they flow straight to its center.

   • 2008 (1952), Lotte H. Eisner, Roger Greaves (translator), The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt, ?ISBN, page 68,

     I had frequently had to explain to cameramen that only in the early morning or late in the evening did sunbeams fall from the window as flat as they were usually found in films. The sun being higher during the hours of work, another way of showing sunbeams had to be found.

2. (Australia, colloquial, dated) An item of cutlery or crockery laid out on a table, but not used, and which can be returned to the drawer without being washed.
3. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Curetis.
4. Any hummingbird of the genus Aglaeactis.
5. (Britain) Synonym of sunshine (“ironic form of address to an inferior or troublemaker”)
   • 1987, Doctor Who (TV series), Paradise Towers (aired 5 October)
   • DOCTOR: You seem to be our best bet so far, don't you think so, Mel? Mel? Where's Mel?
     DEPUTY: No, no, no, sunbeam. You're coming with us.

Related terms

• sunbeamed

Translations

References