Meaning
A person or thing that brings cheer to an otherwise gloomy situation, like a single beam of sun on a dull day. Frequently said affectionately of an unfailingly cheerful person, and sometimes ironically of someone conspicuously gloomy. Warm, affectionate register; the ironic use for a gloomy colleague is jokey and depends heavily on tone. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The phrase is a literal sunbeam made figurative: a single shaft of light breaking into a dull room or overcast landscape. Figurative use was established by the mid-19th century, when Elizabeth Gaskell titled a chapter of North and South (1855) 'A Ray of Sunshine', a chapter whose running motif is small glimmers of cheer amid illness and estrangement; the OED's record includes a late-19th-century Century Magazine example ('there was one ray of sunshine') written amid the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination. Merriam-Webster's modern definition - someone or something that makes a person happier or a place more cheerful - shows how the image has settled into an everyday term of affection.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a little ray of sunshine
- a ray of light
- like a ray of sunshine
- some ray of sunshine
Usage Examples
- The new apprentice was a ray of sunshine in an office worn down by January.
- Her weekly visits were the only ray of sunshine in his convalescence.
- A ray of sunshine for the industry came when exports rose for the first time in three years.