Definition of "scintillate" in English

verb

1. (intransitive) To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to twinkle or glow.

2. (astronomy) Of a star or other celestial body: to vary rapidly in brightness; to twinkle.

3. (nuclear physics) Especially of a phosphor: to emit a flash of light upon absorbing ionizing radiation.

4. (intransitive) To dazzle or to impress.

5. (transitive, now rare) To throw off like sparks.

   • As a boy young Arabin took up the cudgels on the side of the Tractarians, and at Oxford he sat for a while at the feet of the great [John Henry] Newman. To this cause he lent all his faculties. For it he concocted verses, for it he made speeches, for it he scintillated the brightest sparks of his quiet wit.