Entry: phosphenes (n.)
In context: "The first thing that didn't augur very well was a shower of spark-sized phosphenes from the ceiling of the swaying train, this plus the fiery violet aura around the heads of the respectables who'd quielty retreated as far as possible from the various puddles in which he sat."
Definition: A subjective sensation of light produced by mechanical stimulation of the retina (as by pressure on the eyeball) or by electrical stimulation of various parts of the visual pathway.
Other: DFW has a perhaps singular talent for making detox sound like less than a day at the park.
SNOOT score: 1
Page: 304
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
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