[f. FLUOR-(SPAR): see quot. 1852.] The colored luminosity produced in some transparent bodies by the direct action of light, esp. of the violet and ultraviolet rays; the property, in certain substances, of rendering the ultraviolet rays visible, so as to produce this phenomenon.
1853. Prof. Stokes, in Phil. Trans., 479, note. I am almost inclined to coin a word, and call the appearance flourescence, from fluor-spar, as the analogous term opalescence is derived from the name of a mineral.
1867. Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 6), III. 405. Pennsylvanian petroleum is dark coloured, with a peculiar greenish lustre or fluorescence.
