\Au*ro"ra\, n.; pl. E. {Auroras}, L. (rarely used)
{Auror[ae]}. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ?, ?, dawn,
Skr. ushas, and E. east.]
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).
{Aurora borealis}, i. e., northern daybreak; popularly called
   northern lights. A luminous meteoric phenomenon, visible
   only at night, and supposed to be of electrical origin.
   This species of light usually appears in streams,
   ascending toward the zenith from a dusky line or bank, a
   few degrees above the northern horizon; when reaching
   south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the
   corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the
   dipping needle points. Occasionally the aurora appears as
   an arch of light across the heavens from east to west.
   Sometimes it assumes a wavy appearance, and the streams of
   light are then called merry dancers. They assume a variety
   of colors, from a pale red or yellow to a deep red or
   blood color. The
{Aurora australis}is a corresponding phenomenon in the
   southern hemisphere, the streams of light ascending in the
   same manner from near the southern horizon.