warlight

Noun

1. The light produced by acts of war, such as exploding bombs.
   • Methinks I see their sabers as they flashed in battle's sun, I seem to see the warlight fall on bayonet and gun; Before the farm-house gate I stand and listen for their tread, Forgetting that the mighty camps are...
   • The issues of life and death have by the lurid warlight been forced upon our attention. - 1917, Catherine Gasquoine Hartley, Motherhood and the Relationships of the Sexes, page 32:
   • We passed industrial buildings, their lights muted, faint as stars, as if we were in a time capsule of the war years when blackouts and curfews had been in effect, when there was just warlight and only blind barges were...
2. A gleam in the eyes that reflects a fighting spirit.
   • They saw the warlight gleaming in his eyes as he looked round the ting. - 1894, James John Haldane Burgess, The Viking Path: A Tale of the White Christ, page 27:
   • Cannot you prove your suspicions to be either false or true ? " asked the Head Master, making a mental note of the warlight in the boy's eyes. - 1912, The Boys Own Annual Vol 35, page 214:
   • I saw Hetty looking at me with the warlight in her eyes and felt virtuous because the dress I had was dark enough, heaven knew! - 1931, Marion Cran, Gardens in America, page 257: