light

• lite (informal); lyght, lyghte (obsolete)
• licht (Scotland)

• enPR: līt, IPA^(key): /laɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): [ɫɐɪ̯ʔ]
• (Canada, regional US) IPA^(key): /lʌɪt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophone: lite
• Hyphenation: light

From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from Old English lēoht (“light, daylight; power of vision; luminary; world”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Scots licht (“light”), West Frisian ljocht (“light”), Dutch licht (“light”), Low German licht (“light”), German Licht (“light”). Related also to Swedish ljus (“light”), Icelandic ljós (“light”), Latin lūx (“light”), Russian луч (luč, “beam of light”), Armenian լույս (luys, “light”), Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white”).

light (countable and uncountable, plural lights)

A city illuminated by colorful artificial lighting at night

1. (physics, uncountable) Visible electromagnetic radiation. The human eye can typically detect radiation (light) in the wavelength range of about 400 to 750 nanometers. Nearby shorter and longer wavelength ranges, although not visible, are commonly called ultraviolet and infrared light.

   As you can see, this spacious dining-room gets a lot of light in the mornings.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎:

     Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

   • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     When the studio light is on, I am recording my evening show.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. A source of illumination.

   Put that light out!

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

3. Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.

   Can you throw any light on this problem?

   • Shakespeare

     He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.

4. (in the plural, now rare) Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):

     , Book I, New York 2001, page 166:

     Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits […], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.

5. A notable person within a specific field or discipline.

   Picasso was one of the leading lights of the cubist movement.

   • Tennyson

     Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France

6. (painting) The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade.
7. A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.

   I'm really seeing you in a different light today.

   Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter.

   • South

     Frequent consideration of a thing […] shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say.

8. A flame or something used to create fire.

   Hey, buddy, you got a light?

9. A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.

   a Bengal light

10. A window, or space for a window in architecture.

    This facade has eight south-facing lights.

11. The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.

    The average length of a light on a 15×15 grid is 7 or 8.

12. (informal) A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
13. Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.
    • Shakespeare

      The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light.

14. The power of perception by vision.
    • Bible, Psalms xxxviii. 10

      My strength faileth me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.

15. The brightness of the eye or eyes.
    • Shakespeare

      He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.

16. A traffic light, or, by extension, an intersection controlled by one or more that will face a traveler who is receiving instructions.

    To get to our house, turn right at the third light.

• (electromagnetic wave perceived by the eye): visible light
• See also Thesaurus:light source

• (physics): electromagnetic radiation

• Sranan Tongo: leti

See light/translations § Noun.

• light on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Middle English lighten, lihten, from Old English līhtan, lȳhtan, lēohtan (“to lighten, illuminate, give light, shine; grow light, dawn; light, kindle”), from Proto-Germanic *liuhtijaną. Cognate with German leuchten (“to shine”)

light (third-person singular simple present lights, present participle lighting, simple past and past participle lit or lighted)

1. (transitive) To start (a fire).

   Synonym: set

   Antonyms: extinguish, put out, quench

   We lit the fire to get some heat.

2. (transitive) To set fire to; to set burning.

   Synonyms: ignite, kindle, conflagrate

   Antonyms: extinguish, put out, quench

   She lit her last match.

   • Hakewill

     if a thousand candles be all lighted from one

   • Addison

     Absence might cure it, or a second mistress / Light up another flame, and put out this.

3. (transitive) To illuminate.

   Synonyms: illuminate, light up

   I used my torch to light the way home through the woods in the night.

   • F. Harrison

     One hundred years ago, to have lit this theatre as brilliantly as it is now lighted would have cost, I suppose, fifty pounds.

   • Dryden

     The Sun has set, and Vesper, to supply / His absent beams, has lighted up the sky.

4. (intransitive) To become ignited; to take fire.

   Synonyms: catch fire, ignite, conflagrate

   This soggy match will not light.

5. To attend or conduct with a light; to show the way to by means of a light.
   • Landor

     His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.

• belight
• floodlight
• highlight
• inlight
• light someone's fire
• light up
• unlight

From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from Old English lēoht (“luminous, bright, light, clear, resplendent, renowned, beautiful”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian ljoacht (“light”), Dutch licht, German licht.

light (comparative lighter, superlative lightest)

A light-skinned black person.

1. Having light.

   The room is light when the Sun shines through the window.

2. Pale in colour.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the Sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

   She had light skin.

3. (of coffee) Served with extra milk or cream.

   I like my coffee light.

• (having light): bright
• (pale in colour): pale
• (coffee: served with extra milk or cream): white, with milk, with cream

• light-haired
• light-skinned

From Old English lēoht, from Proto-Germanic *linhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“light”). Cognate with Dutch licht, German leicht, Swedish lätt, Norwegian lett, Albanian lehtë, Latin levis, Lithuanian lengvas, Sanskrit लघु (laghu).

light (comparative lighter, superlative lightest)

1. Of low weight; not heavy.

   My bag was much lighter once I had dropped off the books.

   • Addison

     These weights did not exert their natural gravity […] insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand.

2. Lightly-built; designed for speed or small loads.

   We took a light aircraft down to the city.

3. Gentle; having little force or momentum.

   This artist clearly had a light, flowing touch.

4. Easy to endure or perform.

   light duties around the house

   • Dryden

     Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.

5. Low in fat, calories, alcohol, salt, etc.

   This light beer still gets you drunk if you have enough of it.

6. Unimportant, trivial, having little value or significance.

   I made some light comment, and we moved on.

7. (rail transport, of a locomotive, usually with "run") travelling with no carriages, wagons attached
8. (obsolete) Unchaste, wanton.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:

     Long after lay he musing at her mood, / Much grieu'd to thinke that gentle Dame so light, / For whose defence he was to shed his blood.

   • Shakespeare

     So do not you; for you are a light girl.

   • Shakespeare

     A light wife doth make a heavy husband.

9. Not heavily armed; armed with light weapons.

   light troops; a troop of light horse

10. Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift.
    • Francis Bacon

      Unmarried men are best friends, best masters […] but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away.

11. (dated) Easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile.

    a light, vain person; a light mind

    • Tillotson

      There is no greater argument of a light and inconsiderate person than profanely to scoff at religion.

12. Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; lacking dignity or solemnity; frivolous; airy.

    Ogden Nash was a writer of light verse.

    • Shakespeare

      Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light.

    • Hawthorne

      specimens of New England humour laboriously light and lamentably mirthful

13. Not quite sound or normal; somewhat impaired or deranged; dizzy; giddy.
    • Shakespeare

      Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?

14. Not of the legal, standard, or usual weight; clipped; diminished.

    light coin

15. Easily interrupted by stimulation.

    light sleep; light anesthesia

• (of low weight):
• (lightly-built): lightweight
• (having little force or momentum): delicate, gentle, soft
• (low in fat, calories, etc): lite, lo-cal (low in calories), low-alcohol (low in alcohol)
• (having little value or significance): inconsequential, trivial, unimportant

• (of low weight): heavy, weighty
• (lightly-built): cumbersome, heavyweight, massive
• (having little force or momentum): forceful, heavy, strong
• (low in fat, calories, etc): calorific (high in calories), fatty (high in fat), strong (high in alcohol)
• (having little value or significance): crucial, important, weighty

• feather-light
• light as a feather
• light-footed
• lightness
• light on one's feet

light (comparative lighter, superlative lightest)

1. Carrying little.

   I prefer to travel light.

light (plural lights)

1. (curling) A stone that is not thrown hard enough.

light (third-person singular simple present lights, present participle lighting, simple past and past participle lighted)

1. (nautical) To unload a ship, or to jettison material to make it lighter
2. To lighten; to ease of a burden; to take off.
   • Spenser

     His mailèd habergeon she did undight, / And from his head his heavy burgonet did light.

• lighter

Old English līhtan

light (third-person singular simple present lights, present participle lighting, simple past and past participle lit or lighted)

1. To find by chance.

   I lit upon a rare book in a second-hand bookseller's.

2. To stop upon (of eyes or a glance); to notice
   • Jack London, The Call of the Wild

     "Sacredam!" he cried, when his eyes lit upon Buck.

3. (archaic) To alight; to land or come down.

   She fell out of the window but luckily lit on her feet.

   • Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

     Some kinds of ducks in lighting strike the water with their tails first, and skitter along the surface for a few feet before settling down.

• (find by chance): chance upon, come upon, find, happen upon, hit upon
• (alight): alight, land

• light into
• light out

• lighte, lyght, lyghte, liȝt, liȝte, lyȝt, lyȝte, lijȝt, liȝht, lyȝht, lyȝhte, liȝth, lyȝth, ligt, lygtte, ligth, liht, lihte, lyht, lyhte, lith, lithe, lyth, lythe, litht, lite, lyte, lit, lytte, lichte, lict, licth, liste, leoht, leocht, loht

From Old English lēoht (“light, daylight; power of vision; luminary; world”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“light”).

• IPA^(key): /lixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

light (plural lightes)

1. The radiation which allows for vision by brightening objects and colours.
2. Illumination in general, or any source thereof.
3. The metaphorical clarity resulting from philosophical or religious ideals such as truth, wisdom, righteousness, etc.
4. Mental or spiritual acuity; the presence of life in a living being.
5. (chemistry) The property of lustre; how shiny a substance is.
6. (religion) Heavenly radiance; glory
7. (architecture) an opening in a wall allowing for the transmission of light; a window.
8. The sense of sight.
9. The state of being easily seen.

• English: light
• Scots: licht

• “light (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.

Borrowed from English light.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈlajt͡ʃ/

light (invariable, comparable)

1. (of food) light (low in fat, calories, alcohol, salt or other undesirable substances)

• leve

From English light.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlait/, [ˈlai̯t̪]

light (plural light)

1. light (low in fat, calories, salt, alcohol, etc.)
2. (of cigarettes) light (low in tar, nicotine and other noxious chemicals)
3. (by extension) Lacking substance or seriousness; lite.

• As a foreign term with unassimilated spelling and pronunciation, light is usually rendered in italics in formal contexts or published writings.

• “light” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.