Noun

(-)

All the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, especially that in the visible spectrum that bathes the Earth.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight . Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}

(figuratively, figuratively) Brightness, hope; a positive outlook.

Noun

(botany) A plant that turns so that it faces the sun.

(botany) Particularly, a purple-flowered plant of the species .

* 1870, Benjamin Disraeli, Lothair

As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognized in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.

A light purple or violet colour.

* 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day , page 623

"...the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green..."

The fragrance of heliotrope flowers.

* 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

... he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.

* 1906 , O. Henry,

Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope ; [...]

(mineral) A bloodstone (a variety of quartz).

(surveying) An instrument, employed in triangulation, that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight toward another, very distant, surveyor.