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iridescence

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iridescence (ĭr'ədĕs`əns), exhibition of rainbowlike colors on a surface. It usually results from interference interference, in physics, the effect produced by the combination or superposition of two systems of Waves, in which these waves reinforce, neutralize, or in other ways interfere with each other.
..... Click the link for more information.  when light composed of different wavelengths is reflected from the superficial layers of organic or inorganic substances, e.g., minerals, mother-of-pearl, and the feathers of birds. Iridescence greatly enhances the value of certain gems.
iridescence [‚ir·ə′des·əns]
(optics)
A rainbow color effect exhibited in various bodies as a result of interference in a thin film (as of soap bubbles or mother of pearl) or of diffraction of light reflected from a ribbed surface (as of the plumage of some birds).
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The delicate iridescence of the London air gave the softness of a pastel to the gray stone of the buildings; and in the wharfs and storehouses there was the severity of grace of a Japanese print.
Of Human Bondage by Maugham, W. Somerset View in context
You feel like a disembodied spirit, immaterial; and you seem to be able to touch beauty as though it were a palpable thing; and you feel an intimate communion with the breeze, and with the trees breaking into leaf, and with the iridescence of the river.
Moon and Sixpence by Maugham, W. Somerset View in context
Now that I look at you closely you seem all lighted up with an internal iridescence.
Anne of The Island by Montgomery, Lucy Maud View in context
 
 
 
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