glow
n. C / Un. a soft, steady light that comes from something. It can also be the warm, healthy color in someone's face or the happy feeling you have inside.
n. a steady, soft radiance emitted by a source of heat or light without a flame; also used figuratively to describe a healthy complexion or a state of internal satisfaction.
The sunset left a beautiful orange glow in the sky.
After a long walk in the cold winter air, her cheeks had a healthy pink glow.
The soft glow of the embers provided just enough light for the hikers to navigate the cabin without waking their companions.
The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either: from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic glōan (“to glow”); or because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb; both from Proto-Germanic glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”). Possibly a doublet of glass. The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Dutch gloeien * Finnish loistaa * German glühen * Norwegian glo * Old Norse glóa (Danish glo, Icelandic glóa, Swedish glo) * Saterland Frisian gloie, glöie, gluuje * West Frisian gloeie
From Late Middle English glouen (“to gaze, stare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either: * from glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”); or * from Old Norse glóa (“to shine”) (whence Norwegian Nynorsk glo (“to stare”) and Swedish glo (“to stare”)). See further at etymology 1.
Often used with the preposition 'of' to describe the source, such as 'the glow of the lamp'.