the.com/shine
what light does when it survives the dark and refuses to apologize for it
means To give off or reflect light, to gleam or glow — or figuratively, to perform with conspicuous excellence.
from From Old English 'scinan,' to give light, descending through Proto-Germanic 'skinan' (a cousin of German 'scheinen' and Dutch 'schijnen') and ultimately tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root '*skai-' meaning to gleam or shimmer — the same ancient glimmer believed to underlie words like 'sheer.' The metaphorical 'shine' — outdoing everyone in the room — and the slang 'take a shine to' are far later flourishes, but the core word is one of English's oldest and brightest.
- moonshine origin
- named for liquor brewed by moonlight to dodge taxmen
- diamond trick
- diamonds shine by bending light slower than air
- old slang
- to take a shine means sudden, helpless liking
- shoeshine empires
- some boys funded entire educations buffing strangers' leather
- bioluminescence
- fireflies shine without heat, glowing cold on demand
the diamond registry — koh-i-noor diamond, 105.6 carats, mounted in british crown jewels since 1849
apollo 11 mission — astronauts' boots and equipment still reflect light on lunar surface since 1969
venus at night — brightest natural object in night sky after moon, visible from earth year-round