Sparkle vs Sunbeam - What's the difference?

Sparkle is a related term of sunbeam.

As nouns the difference between sparkle and sunbeam

is that sparkle is a little spark; a scintillation while sunbeam is a visible, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight.

As a verb sparkle

is to emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle; as, the blazing wood sparkles; the stars sparkle.

sparkle

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), equivalent to .

Noun

(en noun)

A little spark; a scintillation.

* Spenser

As sparkles from the anvil rise, / When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed.

* Prescott

The shock was sufficiently strong to strike out some sparkles of his fiery temper.

Brilliance; luster.

the sparkle of a diamond.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), equivalent to .

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Verb

(sparkl)

To emit sparks; to throw off ignited or incandescent particles; to shine as if throwing off sparks; to emit flashes of light; to scintillate; to twinkle; as, the blazing wood sparkles; the stars sparkle.

* A mantelet upon his shoulder hanging Bretful of rubies red, as fire sparkling . — Chaucer.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}

To manifest itself by, or as if by, emitting sparks; to glisten; to flash.

* Milton

I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes.

To emit little bubbles, as certain kinds of liquors; to effervesce; as, sparkling wine.

To emit in the form or likeness of sparks.

* Did sparkle forth great light. — Spenser

(obsolete) To disperse.

* The Landgrave hath sparkled his army without any further enterprise. — State Papers.

(obsolete) To scatter on or over.

Synonyms

* shine, glisten, scintillate, radiate, coruscate, glitter, twinkle =

References

* (Webster 1913)

sunbeam

English

Noun

(en noun)

A visible, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight.

* 1957 , (Rudolf Arnheim), Film as Art , page 90,

I cut-in various other material to this; for instance, a shot of a rushing brook in springtime, with dancing sunbeams reflected in the water; of birds splashing in the village pond; and, finally, of a laughing child.

* 2001 , Raymond L. Lee, Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science , page 116,

Similarly, the rays diverging from the sun will pass by you and converge on the point directly opposite the sun, the shadow of your head. All sunbeams', and thus all shadows, appear to converge there.Only perspective makes all shadows appear to converge on the antisolar point. But this point is also the center of the rainbow, so as you look at the rainbow, all ' sunbeams and shadows will lie along radii of the bow as they flow straight to its center.

* 2008 (1952), , Roger Greaves (translator), The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt , ISBN 978-0-52025790-0, page 68,

I had frequently had to explain to cameramen that only in the early morning or late in the evening did sunbeams' fall from the window as flat as they were usually found in films. The sun being higher during the hours of work, another way of showing ' sunbeams had to be found.

(Australia, colloquial, dated) An item of cutlery or crockery laid out on a table, but not used, and which can be returned to the drawer without being washed.“sunbeam ,” 2011 February, Oxford Australia Word of the month

Any butterfly of the genus .

Any hummingbird of the genus Aglaeactis .