[ ɔ:'rɔ:rə ]
■ noun ( plural ~s or ~e -ri: )
1》 the northern lights ( ~ borealis ) or southern lights ( ~ australis ), a natural phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of coloured light in the sky near the earth's magnetic poles and caused by the interaction of charged particles from the sun with atoms in the upper atmosphere.
2》 literary the dawn.
Derivatives
~l adjective
Origin
ME: from L., 'dawn, goddess of the dawn'.