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parhelic circle

American  

noun

Meteorology.

  1. a white, horizontal band passing through the sun, either incomplete or extending around the horizon, produced by the reflection of the sun's rays from the vertical faces of ice prisms in the atmosphere.

parhelic circle British  

noun

  1. meteorol a luminous band at the same altitude as the sun, parallel to the horizon, caused by reflection of the sun's rays by ice crystals in the atmosphere

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
parhelic circle Scientific  
/ pär-hē′lĭk /

  1. A luminous halo visible at the height of the Sun and parallel to the horizon, caused by the Sun's rays reflecting off atmospheric ice crystals.

Etymology

Origin of parhelic circle

First recorded in 1885–90; parhel(ion) + -ic

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.