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Chambers (1908)

Light

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[A.S. leóht; Ger. leicht, Ice. léttr; L. lĕvis.]

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Light, līt, adj. not heavy: of short weight: easily suffered or performed: easily digested: not heavily armed: active: not heavily burdened: unimportant: not dense or copious or intense: gentle: gay, lively: amusing: unchaste: loose, sandy: giddy, delirious: idle, worthless.—vs.t. Light, Light′en, to make less heavy: to alleviate, cheer.—advs. Light, Light′ly (Shak.), commonly, usually.—adj. Light′-armed, armed in a manner suitable for active service.—ns. Light′er, a large open boat used in unloading and loading ships; Light′erage, price paid for unloading ships by lighters: the act of thus unloading; Light′erman.—adjs. Light′-fing′ered, light or active with one's fingers: thievish; Light′-foot, -ed, nimble, active; Light′ful (rare), cheery, happy; Light′-hand′ed, with light or dexterous touch: having little in the hand: empty-handed: insufficiently manned; Light′-head′ed, giddy in the head: delirious: thoughtless: unsteady.—n. Light′-head′edness.—adj. Light′-heart′ed, light or merry of heart: free from anxiety: cheerful.—adv. Light′-heart′edly.—n. Light′-heart′edness.—adj. Light′-heeled, swift of foot.—ns. Light′-horse, light-armed cavalry; Light′-horse′man; Light′-in′fantry, infantry lightly or not heavily armed.—adjs. Light′-legged, swift of foot; Light′-mind′ed, having a light or unsteady mind: not considerate.—ns. Light′-mind′edness; Light′ness (Shak.), light-headedness; Light′ning (Shak.), an exhilaration of the spirits; Light′-o'-love, a capricious and wanton woman: an old dance tune.—n.pl. Lights, the lungs.—adj. Light′some, light, gay, lively, cheering.—n. Light′someness.—adj. Light′-spir′ited, having a cheerful spirit.—n. Light′-weight, in sporting and especially boxing, a man or animal of a certain weight prescribed by the rules, intermediate between the middle-weight and the feather-weight: a person of little importance.—adj. Light′-winged, having light wings: volatile.—Make light of, to treat as of little consequence. [A.S. leóht; Ger. leicht, Ice. léttr; L. lĕvis.]

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  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
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  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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