alight
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From Middle English alighten (“to descend from a place: to dismount, get off; to descend to a place: to arrive or stop (at a place); to land; to drop; to attack; of lightning: to strike; to leap on to, mount; to descend in rank; to cause (someone) to lose rank; to come forth, spring from; to alleviate, relieve; (Christianity) of Jesus: to come down to earth from heaven, become incarnate; to descend (to hell); of the Holy Spirit, angels, miracles, etc.: to descend (from heaven); to descend (upon someone); to appear in a place”) [and other forms], from a merger of:
* Old English ālīhtan (“to alight, dismount”), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to descend, alight, light; to make easy or light, alleviate, lighten, relieve”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“not heavy, light”); and
* Old English ġelīhtan (“to descend; to come down, dismount; to make easy or light, alleviate, lighten, relieve”), from ġe- (intensifying prefix, attached to verbs to indicate completeness or perfection) + līhtan, līehtan (see above).
The English word is analyzable as a- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + light (“to ease, lighten; to take off; to unload; to dismount; (archaic) to come down, land; to dismount”).
Cognates
* Middle Low German erlichten (“to lighten”)
* Old High German gilīhten (“to make less heavy, lighten”) (Middle High German gelīhten); Old High German irlīhten (“to alleviate”) (Middle High German erlīhten, modern German erleichten)
Base: light
Affixes: a-
Inflected forms:
form: alights
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: alighting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: alighted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: alighted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: alit
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: alit
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
gloss: Often followed by from or off: to get off an animal which one has been riding; to dismount; to descend or exit from a vehicle; hence, to complete one's journey; to stop.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He alighted from his horse.
Passengers are alighting from the carriage.
Madam, there is a-lighted at your gate / A yong Venetian, one that comes before / To ſignifie th'approaching of his Lord, / From whom he bringeth ſenſible regreets; […]
He that neuer alights off a rich Farmer or country Gentleman, till he haue drawne money from him, is called The Snaffle.
The Horſemen all alighted, and the footmen taking Don Quixote and Sancho forcibly in their Armes, they ſet them in the Court, […]
The Coach ſet us down by the Side of a large Common, about five Miles diſtant from our Houſe; and we alighted, and walked a little Way, chuſing not to have the Coach come nearer, that we might be taken as little Notice of as poſſible; […]
[M]aking as if he would have alighted from off his horſe, as he was poiſing himſelf on the mounting ſide, he moſt nimbly (with his ſhort ſword by his thigh) ſhifting his feet in the ſtirrup and performing the ſtirrup-leather feat, whereby, after the inclining of this body downwards, he forthwith launched himſelf aloft into the air, and placed both his feet together upon the ſaddle, ſtanding upright, with his back turned towards his horſe's head,— […]
What courſe to take, whether to proceed or retreat, we could not tell; but it was not long before the wolves themſelves made us come to a reſolution: […] [D]eſiring them to alight, we ſtood in a triangle, or three fronts, encloſing our horſes in the centre, the only place where we could preſerve them.
Now when he had reached the King's capital wherein was Alaeddin, he alighted at one of the Kháns; and, when he had rested from the weariness of wayfare, he donned his dress and went down to wander about the streets, where he never passed a group without hearing them prate about the pavilion and its grandeur and vaunt the beauty of Alaeddin and his lovesomeness, his liberality and generosity, his fine manners and his good morals.
Dashing back to my compartment, I grabbed my impedimenta—what my companion thought of the maniac who alighted at a station only half-way to the first booked stop I don't know!—got out, hurried under the subway, and was into my 10.45 comfortably before its departure.
That, combined with the fact that I alight with only four or five other passengers, is a sad reminder of how most people continue to choose to travel to this far-flung corner of the UK.
gloss: Often followed by at, on, or upon: of something aloft: to descend and settle; to land, to lodge, to rest.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
intransitive
examples: A flying bird alights upon a tree.
Snow alights on a roof.
His fearefull freends vveare out the vvofull night, / Ne dare to vveepe, nor ſeeme to vnderſtand / The heauie hap, vvhich on them is alight, / Affraid, leaſt to themſelues the like miſhappen might.
Then from his loftie ſtand on that high Tree / Down he alights among the ſportful Herd / Of thoſe fourfooted kindes, himſelf now one, […]
The wounded Bird, e'er yet ſhe breath'd her laſt, / With flagging Wings alighted on the Maſt, / A Moment hung, and ſpread her Pinions there, / Then ſudden dropt, and left her Life in Air.
I saw the expecting raven fly, / Who scarce would wait till both should die, / Ere his repast begun; / He flew, and perch'd, then flew once more, / And each time nearer than before; / I saw his wing through twilight flit, / And once so near me he alit / I could have smote, but lack'd the strength; […]
That elf-maiden smote with her hand so white,
“Sorrow and sickness on thee alight”
That elf-maiden smote with her cap so small,
“No more shall priest's benison on thee fall!”
In 1851 the Great Northern Railway had reached London and began operating into a terminus at Maiden Lane, just north of the New Road [later renamed Euston Road]. In 1854 they moved up to the New Road itself, with the opening of King's Cross station, east of Euston. The railways were alighting on the New Road like birds perching on a branch (the Midland Railway would open St Pancras, between Euston and King's Cross in 1868), and [Charles] Pearson took note.
gloss: To come down or go down; to descend.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
gloss: Often followed by on or upon: of a blow, something thrown, etc.: to land heavily.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
examples: But ſtorms of Stones, from the proud Temple's height, / Pour down, and on our batter'd Helms alight.
gloss: Often followed by on or upon: to find by accident; to chance upon, to come upon.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
gloss: To arrive.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Madam, heres a pretty hanſome ſtripling, nevv alight, / Enquires for Don Antonio.
Related words: alighten
Derived words: alighting
alightment
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: ка́цам
roman: kácam
lang: Bulgarian
word: ка́цна
roman: kácna
lang: Finnish
word: asettua
lang: Hungarian
word: leszáll
lang: Hungarian
word: rászáll
lang: Irish
word: tuirling
lang: Māori
word: tau
lang: Portuguese
word: pousar
lang: Russian
word: приземля́ться
roman: prizemljátʹsja
lang: Russian
word: приземли́ться
roman: prizemlítʹsja
lang: Spanish
word: aterrizar
lang: Spanish
word: posarse
lang: Swedish
word: slå ner sig