a. rare. [ad. L. candēscent-em, pr. pple. of candēscĕre to become white, begin to glow, inchoative from candēre: see CANDENT.] Glowing with, or as with, heat.
1824. Beddoes, Lett., in Poems, Introd. 34. The moment he [the sun] touched [the Alps], it appeared that all the snows took fire, and burned with a candescent brilliancy.
1863. Q. Rev., CXIV. 540. The spark … cast forth from the candescent metal.
1884. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, I. xiv. 68. The star … less candescent than before.
Hence Candescently adv., glowingly, dazzlingly.
1883. Miss Broughton, Belinda, II. ii. Candescently white.
