Phosphorescent light. 1483, but now only U.S. (N.E.D.)
1829. The foxfire,—as the country people call it,—glowed hideously from the cold and matted bosom of the marsh.—John P. Kennedy, ‘Swallow Barn,’ p. 261 (N.Y., 1851).
1839. It is not everything that shines in the dark that is fire in reality, but [it] often turns out on examination to be fox-fire, or something else.—Mr. Murray of Kentucky, House of Repr., Jan. 31: Cong. Globe, p. 152, App.
1853. The fox-fire of the Virginia meadows.—Kane, ‘Grinnell Expedition’ (1856), p. 193. (N.E.D.)
See also ‘Dialect Notes,’ ii. 64 (Ky.), iii. 312 (Ala.).
