aurora Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the first light of day
    sunup; daybreak; break of day; dawning; morning; break of the day; first light; dayspring; dawn; cockcrow; sunrise.
    • we got up before dawn
    • they talked until morning
  2. noun an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands of light caused by charged solar particles following the earth's magnetic lines of force
  3. noun (Roman mythology) goddess of the dawn; counterpart of Greek Eos

WordNet

Au*ro"ra noun
Etymology
L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. , , dawn, Skr. ushas, and E. east.
Wordforms
plural E Auroras L (rarely used) Auroræ
Definitions
  1. The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises.
  2. The rise, dawn, or beginning. Hawthorne.
  3. (Class. Myth.) The Roman personification of the dawn of day; the goddess of the morning. The poets represented her a rising out of the ocean, in a chariot, with rosy fingers dropping gentle dew.
  4. (Bot.) A species of crowfoot. Johnson.
  5. The aurora borealis or aurora australis (northern or southern lights).

Webster 1913