St. Elmo's fire

English

Alternative forms

• St Elmo's fire, Saint Elmo's fire, St. Ulmo's fire

Etymology

After Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors, also known as St. Elmo.

Noun

St. Elmo's fire (usually uncountable, plural St. Elmo's fires)

1. An electrical discharge, or corona, seen around pointed objects, caused by ionization of the atmosphere during storms.
   • 1985 June 23, “St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)”, David Foster, John Parr (lyrics), performed by John Parr:

     I can see a new horizon, underneath a blazing sky.
     I’ll be where the eagle’s flying, higher and higher!
     Gonna be a man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels.
     Take me where the future lies, in St. Elmo’s fire!

Synonyms

• corposant, corpusant, composant
• Elmo's fire
• St. Elmo's light
• witchfire, witch's fire

Translations

electrical discharge

• Afrikaans: Sint-Elmusvuur
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: Огън на свети Елм (Ogǎn na sveti Elm)
• Catalan: foc de Sant Elm
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聖艾爾摩之火／圣艾尔摩之火 (Shèng Ài'ěrmó zhī huǒ)

• Czech: oheň svatého Eliáše
• Danish: sanktelmsild
• Dutch: Sint-Elmusvuur
• Finnish: Elmon tuli (at sea); ukonvirva (on land)
• French: feu de Saint-Elme (fr)
• Galician: lume de San Telmo
• German: Elmsfeuer (de)
• Greek: Άγιοι Νικόληδες (Ágioi Nikólides)

  Ancient Greek: ἑλένη f (helénē)

• Hebrew: אש אלמו הקדוש
• Hungarian: Szent Elmo tüze
• Indonesian: api Santa Elmo
• Irish: gealán San Elmo
• Italian: fuoco di Sant'Elmo
• Japanese: セントエルモの火 (sentoerumo no hi)
• Korean: 세인트 엘모의 불 (seinteu elmoui bul)
• Latin: corpus sanctum
• Norwegian: Sankt Elms ild
• Polish: ognie świętego Elma (pl)
• Portuguese: fogo de Santelmo m, santelmo m
• Romanian: focul Sfântului Elmo
• Russian: Огни святого Эльма (Ogni svjatovo Elʹma)
• Serbo-Croatian: Ватра светог Елма
• Spanish: fuego de San Telmo
• Swedish: Sankt Elmseld, elmseld (sv) c
• Tagalog: igneyo, igneo, santelmo
• Ukrainian: Вогні святого Ельма (Vohni svjatoho Elʹma)

Anagrams

• semiflorets