aureole

noun

1. A circle of light or halo around the head of a deity or a saint.

   “The lady's hair no woman could possess without feeling it her pride. It was the daily theme of her lady's-maid,—a natural aureole to her head.”

   “They sat quietly, side by side, without speaking. Philip enjoyed having her near him. He was warmed by her radiant health. A glow of life seemed like an aureole to shine about her.”

   “She feels, with all our furniture, Room yet for something more secure Than our self-kindled aureoles To guide our poor forgotten souls […]”

   “Those white women whose superiority encircled them like an aureole, could quieten any raucous gathering by just placing a finger to a lip.”

2. (broadly)Any luminous or colored ring that encircles something.

   “It was a lean Jewish face, with a great fuzzy aureole of white hair and a small goatee beard […]”

   “The dust of the road and his long, wiry hair made aureoles of red about him in the westering light […]”

3. A corona.
4. A ring around an igneous intrusion.

   “Cleavage and folds are imprinted are overprinted by the contact metamorphic aureole, indicating that they belong to a pre-intrustive episode of rock deformation and accompanying regional deformation.”

5. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of aureola (“increment to blessedness”).

verb

1. (transitive)To surround with, or as if with, a halo.