foxfire or fox-fire [foks-fahyuh r] EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. organic luminescence, especially from certain fungi on decaying wood. any of various fungi causing luminescence in decaying wood. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of foxfire late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at fox, fire Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for fox-fire Historical Examples of fox-fire
But for the fox-fire beacons he would have been lost instantly.
Murray Leinster
If it had anywhere an actual nucleus, that centre remained as impalpable and unmaterial as fox-fire.
Charles Neville Buck
The country people are familiar with the sight of it in wild timber-land, and have given it the name of ‘Fox-fire.’
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Are there passages which burn with real fire—not punk, fox-fire, make believe?
The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 5, 1901-1906
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
They were man-size, too, or nearly so, visible in the dark with the dim radiance of fox-fire.
Manly Wade Wellman
British Dictionary definitions for fox-fire foxfire noun a luminescent glow emitted by certain fungi on rotting woodSee also bioluminescence Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for fox-fire n.
also foxfire, late 15c., from fox (n.) + fire (n.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper