HALO

Halo

A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes. In the sacred art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, among other religions, sacred persons may be depicted with a halo in the form of a circular glow, or in Asian art flames, around the head, or around the whole body, this last often called a mandorla. Halos may be shown as almost any colour, but as they represent light are most often depicted as golden, yellow, white, or red when flames are depicted.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Halo (religious iconography)
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halo

Noun

  1. A circular band of coloured light, visible around the sun or moon etc., caused by reflection and refraction of light by ice crystals in the atmosphere.
  2. A cloud of gas and other matter surrounding and captured by the gravitational field of a large diffuse astronomical object, such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies.
  3. Anything resembling this band, such as an effect caused by imperfect developing of photographs.
  4. nimbus, a luminous disc, often of gold, around or over the heads of saints, etc., in religious paintings.
  5. The metaphorical aura of glory, veneration or sentiment which surrounds an idealized entity.

Verb

  1. To encircle with a halo.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: halo
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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