Shining

p. a. 1. Bright; splendid; radiant.

2Sense 2. Illustrious; distinguished; conspicuous; as, a shining example of charity.

3Sense 3. (Bot.) Having the surface smooth and polished;—said of leaves. Lindley.

Synonyms—Glistening; bright; radiant; resplendent; effulgent; lustrous; brilliant; glittering; splendid; illustrious.—SHINING, BRILLIANT, SPARKLING. Shining describes the emission of a strong light from a clear or polished surface. Brilliant denotes a shining of great brightness, but with gleams or flashes. Sparkling implies a shining intensely from radiant points or sparks, by which the eye is dazzled. The same distinctions obtain when these epithets are figuratively applied. A man of shining talents is made conspicuous by possessing them; if they flash upon the mind with a peculiarly striking effect, we call them brilliant; if his brilliancy is marked by great vivacity and occasional intensity, he is sparkling.

True paradise inclosed with shining rock. Milton.

Some in a brilliant buckle bind her waist, Some round her neck a circling light display. Gay.

His sparkling blade about his head he blest, And smote off quite his left leg by the knee, That down he tumbled. Spencer.

n. Effusion or clearness of light; brightness.