Both Uses of
luminous
in
Washington Square, by Henry James
- To her mind there was nothing of the infinite about Mrs. Penniman; Catherine saw her all at once, as it were, and was not dazzled by the apparition; whereas her father's great faculties seemed, as they stretched away, to lose themselves in a sort of luminous vagueness, which indicated, not that they stopped, but that Catherine's own mind ceased to follow them.†
Chpt 2
- Catherine could think of nothing of the kind, and Morris's luminosity seemed almost pitiless.†
Chpt 20 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(luminous) glowing or shining
(also used metaphorically to describe beauty or intelligence) -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, luminous can mean beautiful, inspiring, or beautifully clear and understandable.