Did You Know?

To help you gain a flash of recognition next time you see "coruscate" (or to prompt you when you need a brilliant synonym for "sparkle"), remember this bit of bright imagery by George Bernard Shaw, describing a centuries-old abbey: "O'er this north door a trace still lingers / Of how a Gothic craftsman's fingers / Could make stones creep like ivy stems / And tilings coruscate like gems." Or you could just remember that "coruscate" developed from Latin coruscare, which means "to flash." That word also gave us the noun "coruscation" ("glitter" or "sparkle") and the adjective "coruscant" ("shining" or "glittering").