Hypertext Webster Gateway: "halo"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Halo \Ha"lo\, n.; pl. {Halos}(?). [L. halos, acc. halo, Gr. ? a
thrashing floor, also (from its round shape) the disk of the
sun or moon, and later a halo round it; cf. Gr. ? to enfold,
? to roll round, L. volvere, and E. voluble.]
1. A luminous circle, usually prismatically colored, round
the sun or moon, and supposed to be caused by the
refraction of light through crystals of ice in the
atmosphere. Connected with halos there are often white
bands, crosses, or arches, resulting from the same
atmospheric conditions.
2. A circle of light; especially, the bright ring represented
in painting as surrounding the heads of saints and other
holy persons; a glory; a nimbus.
3. An ideal glory investing, or affecting one's perception
of, an object.
4. A colored circle around a nipple; an areola.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Halo \Ha"lo\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. {Haloed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Haloing}.]
To form, or surround with, a halo; to encircle with, or as
with, a halo.
The fire That haloed round his saintly brow. --Sothey.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
halo
n 1: an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a
saint [syn: {aura}, {nimbus}, {glory}]
2: a toroidal shape; "a ring of ships in the harbor"; "a halo
of smoke" [syn: {ring}, {annulus}, {anulus}, {doughnut}, {anchor
ring}]
3: a circle of light around the sun or moon
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