a. [Formed as prec. + -(I)FEROUS.] Producing or transmitting light esp. in luminiferous ether (see ETHER 5).
1801. Young, in Phil. Trans., XCII. 22. The actual velocity of the particles of the luminiferous ether.
1842. Parnell, Chem. Anal. (1845), 270. The principal luminiferous constituents of coal-gas are [etc.].
1863. Tyndall, Heat, xi. 293. The luminiferous ether fills stellar space.
1866. J. Martineau, Ess., I. 137. The luminiferous, the calorific, and the chemical rays.
1878. Bell, trans. Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 394. The paired luminiferous organ of these animals.
