fox fire

English

Noun

fox fire (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of foxfire
   • 1876, William H[amilton] Gibson, “The Deer”, in The Complete American Trapper, or The Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making: , New York, N.Y.: James Miller, →OCLC, book VI (Steel Traps and the Art of Trapping), page 218:

     There is still another method of night hunting by the salt lick. [...] When night approaches, the hunter finds a piece of phosphorescent wood or "fox fire," and places it on the ground, at a point which he has previously determined to be on a direct line of the aim of his gun. The "fox fire" is plainly seen from the tree, and as soon as it is darkened he knows that it is obscured by the deer, and he pulls the trigger and kills his game.

   • 1983, Manuel Robbins, “Collecting Fluorescent Minerals”, in The Collector’s Book of Fluorescent Minerals, New York, N.Y., London: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, →DOI, →ISBN, page 50:

     Curiously enough, there were fluorescent displays underground that could be enjoyed without benefit of an ultraviolet lamp. One of these was fox fire, the spectral glow given off by fungi on decaying timber. In the damp darkness of the mine, pine planks 3 inches thick could become feather light and crumbly in a year.

   • 1995, Robert E. Nichols, Jr., Birds of Algonquin Legend, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 96:

     When they died, the others built fires to smoke them, and then covered them with birch bark. Every bit was covered with bark. Not a hair was left out, and nothing could go in. They'd put sticks of fox fire near them.

Anagrams

• Firefox, firefox, forefix