Meaning of sun dog | Babel Free

Definitions

A bright spot in the sky, usually one of two on a parhelic circle on both sides of the sun (or occasionally above and below it), caused by the refraction of the sun's image through ice crystals.

Equivalents

Examples

“December […] the 28th [1714], the Sun being an Hour high, appeared a Sun-Dog or Parhelion, the Sky full of flying Clouds.”

“Sun-dogs, called Mock Suns, becauſe they reſemble the ſun, are tvvo ſpots that frequently appear in a cloud vvhen the ſun ſhines through it, and vvhen he is about 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon. […] One is ſituated on the north, and the other on the ſouth ſide of the ſun. The refraction and reflection of the rays of light are the cauſe of theſe phænomena.”

“Two sundogs dread famine bring / A bloody war, and new-crown'd king.”

“The good fog heard—like a splitten sail, to the left and right she tore, / And they saw the sun-dogs in the haze and the seal upon the shore.”

“Sometimes it is clear, and at midday the sun looks at us for a moment over the hills to the south. The northern lights flame in the sky, and the sun-dogs dance, and the air is filled with frost-dust.”

“A sun dog on each side of the sun foretell a bad storm in the night.”

“Long understood also, is the fact that sundogs—colored spots of light to the right or left of the sun or moon—belong in the same class with halos.”

“Every rainbow and every sundog remind us, "Yes, you are human and you often fail to live up to God's standards. But God's covenant is eternal, and God loves you nonetheless and not the less."”

“Some videos seem to show sun dogs jumping around. […] No one is sure what causes these "jumping" sun dogs. Some scientists think the electric field from lightning in the cloud makes the ice crystals move. When the crystals move, the sun dog moves. But this is just a hypothesis. No one is sure what causes this phenomenon.”

CEFR level