Definition of "phosphoresce" []

• To persist in emitting light, unaccompanied by sensible heat or combustion, after exposure to and removal of a source of radiation. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Some online research revealed that decaying wood can phosphoresce due to the presence of a fungus known as Agaricus melleus."
• "He had inherited from his father a supply of uranium salts, which phosphoresce on exposure to light."
• "But on some nights the sea would phosphoresce, he remembered, you dipped your hand into the waves that lapped against your boat and lifted it with fire streaming off ...."