light

noun

1. (uncountable)Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye (about 400–750 nanometers): visible light.

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

   “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.”

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

   “[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.”

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

2. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range visible to the human eye or in nearby ranges (infrared or ultraviolet radiation).

   “black light”

3. (broadly, countable, uncommon, uncountable)Electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength.
4. (countable)A source of illumination.

   “Put that light out!”

   “And the light ſhineth in darkneſſe, and the darkneſſe compꝛehended it not.”

   “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.”

5. (countable, uncountable)A source of illumination.

   “We turned off all the lights and went to sleep.”

   “The ceiling lights were off, but I knew the narrow light spilling from the lamp on my bureau would be enough for her to see the pale red marks on my chest, which had been fading for so long they had gone back to being shiny again.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A source of illumination.

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

7. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.

   “Can you throw any light on this problem?”

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

   “A sudden light broke upon him and he repeated the first line with expression.”

   “Greatly interested in these differences—some of them so great that they led me to seek exchanges of light with Englishmen—I looked for some work that would describe and account for them with a show of completeness, and perhaps depict the process of their origin.”

8. (archaic, countable, in-plural, uncountable)Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.

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

   “"Well, there's her statement of her case, and according to her lights, it's a just one. She's got a slum-bred mind."”

9. (countable, uncountable)A notable person within a specific field or discipline.

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

   “Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France”

10. (countable, uncountable)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.
11. (countable, uncountable)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.”

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

    “Thy ſteddy Temper, Portius, Can look on Guilt, Rebellion, Fraud, and Cæſar, In the calm Lights of mild Philoſophy; […]”

    “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.”

12. (countable, uncountable)A flame or something used to create fire.

    “"There will, I expect, be many such - possibly whole cities in flames - when we consider how many folk may have dropped with lights in their hands."”

13. (countable, slang, uncountable)A flame or something used to create fire.

    “Hey, buddy, you got a light?”

14. (countable, uncountable)A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.

    “a Bengal light”

15. (countable, uncountable)A window in architecture, carriage design, or motor car design: either the opening itself or the window pane of glass that fills it, if any.

    “This facade has eight south-facing lights.”

16. (countable, uncountable)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.”

17. (countable, informal, uncountable)A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
18. (countable, uncountable)Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.

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

19. (countable, uncountable)The power of perception by vision: eyesight (sightedness; vision).

    “My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eies, it also is gone from me.”

20. (countable, uncountable)The brightness of the eye or eyes.

    “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.”

21. A stone that is not thrown hard enough.
22. See lights (“lungs”).
23. (Australia, uncountable)A low-alcohol lager.

    “We crossed to the pub on the corner of Carlisle Street and I ordered two schooners of old for him and one of light for me.”

24. (historical)A member of the light cavalry.
25. (alt-of, honorific)Honorific alternative letter-case form of light, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.

verb

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

   “We lit the fire to get some heat.”

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

   “She lit her last match.”

   “if a thousand candles be all lighted from one”

3. (transitive)To illuminate; to provide light for when it is dark.

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

   “19th century', Frederic Harrison, The Fortnightly Review One hundred years ago, to have lit this theatre as brilliantly as it is now lighted would have cost, I suppose, fifty pounds.”

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

   “It was lighted by a couple of windows, one of which favoured an intimate inspection of two chimney pots, and a diagonal section of the Town Hall clock.”

   “"Can I light you down to your cab?"”

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

   “This soggy match will not light.”

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

   “His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.”

6. (transitive)To make (a bonus) available to be collected by hitting a target, and thus light up the feature light corresponding to that bonus to indicate its availability.

   “Light the extra ball by amassing 500 million points in the wizard mode.”

7. To unload a ship, or to jettison material to make it lighter
8. To lighten; to ease of a burden; to take off.

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

9. (broadly)To leave; to depart.
10. To find by chance.

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

11. To stop upon (of eyes or a glance); to notice

    “"Sacredam!" he cried, when his eyes lit upon Buck. "Dat one dam bully dog! Eh? How moch?"”

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

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

    “[W]e knew not what Courſe to take, but the Creatures [wolves] reſolv'd us ſoon, for they gather'd about us preſently, in Hopes of Prey, […] I drew my little Troop in among thoſe Trees, and placing our ſelves in a Line, behind one long Tree, I advis'd them all to light, and keeping that Tree before us, for a Breaſt-Work, to ſtand in a Triangle, or three Fronts, encloſing our Horſes in the Center.”

    “And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.”

    “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.”

    “1957, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), The Cat in the Hat And our fish came down, too. He fell into a pot! He said, "Do I like this? Oh, no! I do not. This is not a good game," Said our fish as he lit.”

adj

1. Having light; bright; clear; not dark or obscure.

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

   “Historic England explained the listing: "The station's unique design employs a high level of sophistication and innovation through its use of conoid shells supported on a cruck-like frame, which not only create a dramatic aesthetic form, but endow the building with a light and spacious interior."”

2. Pale or whitish in color; highly luminous and more or less deficient in chroma.

   “She had light skin.”

   “'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.”

3. Served with extra milk or cream.

   “I like my coffee light.”

4. Having little or relatively little actual weight; not heavy; not cumbrous or unwieldy.

   “a light load ; a lighter backpack after having removed the books ; light weapons”

   “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.”

5. Having little weight as compared with bulk; of little density or specific gravity.

   “feathers and cork are light ; oil is lighter than water”

6. Of short or insufficient weight; weighing less than the legal, standard, or proper amount; clipped or diminished.

   “to issue light coin”

7. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.
8. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.

   “a light aircraft ; a light tank”

9. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.

   “light infantry; a troop of light horse”

10. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.

    “if a ship is light or partially loaded ; the light draft of a vessel, or its light displacement”

11. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.

    “the light locomotives ; a locomotive may be moved light”

    “On that August Thursday afternoon, there was little freight traffic; a large "K3" Mogul went down with a short, fast goods, and a W.D. 2-8-0 proceeded northward light.”

12. Lacking that which burdens or makes heavy.
13. Not heavy or soggy; spongy; well raised.

    “a light bread ; sponge cake is a light cake”

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

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

15. Slight, not forceful or intense; small in amount or intensity.

    “a light drizzle//a light rain was falling//a light snow set in”

16. Gentle; having little force or momentum.

    “This artist clearly had a light, flowing touch.”

17. Easy to endure or perform.

    “light duties around the house”

    “Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.”

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

    “I made some light comment, and we moved on.”

    “He had drunk more than was fit for him, and he was singing some light song, when he saw approaching, as he said, the pale horse mentioned in the Revelation, with Death seated as the rider.”

19. (obsolete)Unchaste, wanton.

    “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.”

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

    “A light wife doth make a heavy husband.”

20. Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift.

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

21. Fast; nimble.
22. (dated)Easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile.

    “a light, vain person; a light mind”

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

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

    “Ogden Nash was a writer of light verse.”

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

    “specimens of New England humour laboriously light and lamentably mirthful”

24. Not quite sound or normal; somewhat impaired or deranged; dizzy; giddy.

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

25. Easily interrupted by stimulation.

    “light sleep; light anesthesia”

26. Cheerful.

    “I wish you a good day, and you'll find a way To make your spirits light & gay”

adv

1. Carrying little.

   “I prefer to travel light.”

name

1. A surname.
2. A place name:
3. A place name:
4. A place name:
5. A place name:
6. The 24th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.