ray of light

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ray of light (plural rays of light)

1. (physics) A path a photon or a group of photons takes through space, visible as a column of light.
2. (idiomatic) An inspiring or enlightening person or thing.
   • 2009, D.M. Armstrong, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 5:

     I think he was somewhat lost for a political position - a simple conservatism did not attract him - and I make the guess that Arnold had been a spar that he got hold of as he struggled to find a political position. I was certainly in that position, having been persuaded by Anderson, especially at the lunch-hour meetings of his Free-thought Society, of the bankruptcy of the Left. Arnold came to me as a most welcome ray of light.