alight

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“
The men were fertile in suggestions for tempting and practicable breakfasts; and the women actually brought the food along; and by the time that the world was well alight, the early risers were bustling about and serving coffee and tea, and biscuits and fruit, and keeping up that semblance of activity and employment that alone can carry poor humanity through long periods of suspense and anxiety.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. intransitive verb To come down and settle, as after flight: a sparrow alighting on a branch.
  2. intransitive verb To get down, as from a vehicle; dismount: The queen alighted from the carriage.
  3. intransitive verb To come by chance: alight on a happy solution.
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This word has been looked up 142 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

ablaze ·  aflame ·  intoxicated ·  fraught ·  alive ·  radiant ·  awash ·  awake ·  inflame ·  astir ·  animate ·  vibrant
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English alighten, from Old English ālīhtan : ā-, intensive pref. + līhtan, to relieve of a burden (from līht, light; see light2).
  2. Middle English, past participle of alighten, to set on fire, from Old English ālīhtan, to illuminate : ā-, intensive pref. + līhtan, to shine (from lēoht, a light; see light1).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English alighten, alyghten, alizten, alyzten, alihten, alyhten, from (1) Anglo-Saxon ālīhtan (Old High German arliuhtan, Middle High German erliuhten, German erleuchten), light, illuminate, from ā-, English a-, + līhtan, English light, v.; (2) Anglo-Saxon onlīhtan, light, illuminate, from on-, English a-, + līhtan, English light, v.; (3) Anglo-Saxon gelīhtan, gely¯htan, light, give light to, illuminate, intransitive become light, from ge-, English a-, + līhtan, English light, v.: see a-, a-, a-, and light, v., and cf. alighten, enlighten, lighten; see also alight, p. a.
  2. from Middle English alight, alizt, aliht (early modern English alighted), from Anglo-Saxon *ālīhted, past participle of ālīhtan, English alight, v., q. v.; but now regarded as parallel to afire, ablaze, etc., from a + light, n.
  3. from Middle English alighten, alizten, alihten, from Anglo-Saxon gelīhtan (= Old High German gelihten), lighten, mitigate, from ge-, English a-, + līhtan, English light, v.: see a-, light, v., and cf. alighten, lighten.
  4. from Middle English alighten, alyghten, alizten, alyzten, from (1) Anglo-Saxon ālīhtan (occurring but once, in a gloss: “Dissilio, Ic of ālīhte,” literally ‘I alight off’), from ā-, English a-, + līhtan, English light; (2) Anglo-Saxon gelīhtan, alight, dismount, come down, from ge-, English a-, + līhtan, English light: see a-, a-, and light, and cf. alighten and lighten.
 

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/əˈlaɪt/
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