Triboluminescence means light emitted by rubbing or by any other type of friction. If you rub two pieces of quartz together or pull tape off a roll in a dark room, you might see some triboluminescence.
Triboluminescence comes from the Greek word tribo, meaning "to rub," and the Latin lumen, meaning "light." This second element is also present in the word bioluminescence, light emitted by living creatures. Francis Bacon was an early writer on triboluminescence, observing in 1620 that sugar crystals would spark when you scraped or broke them in the dark. Why he had broken or scraped so much sugar in the dark is not recorded.