alight

What it means

1. alsofigurativelyobsoletetransitiveTo make less heavy; to lighten; to alleviate, to relieve.

   Synonyms: alighten

2. intransitiveOften 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.

   He alighted from his horse.

   5 more examples

   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; […]

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ix]

   He that neuer alights off a rich Farmer or country Gentleman, till he haue drawne money from him, is called The Snaffle.

   1609, Thomas Dekker, “Lanthorne and Candle-light. Or, The Bell-man’s Second Nights-walke. […] The Second Edition, […]: Rancke-riders, the Manner of Cozening Inn-keepers, Post-maisters and Hackny-men”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Non-dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker. […] (The Huth Library), volume III, London; Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: […] [Hazell, Watson, & Viney] for private circulation only, published 1885, →OCLC, page 251

   The Horſemen all alighted, and the footmen taking Don Quixote and Sancho forcibly in their Armes, they ſet them in the Court, […]

   1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Of the Nevvest and Strangest Aduenture, that in All the Course of This History Befell Don Quixote”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The Second Part of the History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-errant, Don Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Edward Blount, →OCLC, page 461

   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; […]

   1742, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXVII”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold by C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 351

   Synonyms: alighten, light, disembark, debark, get off, get out, unlight

3. alsofigurativelyintransitiveOften followed by at, on, or upon: of something aloft: to descend and settle; to land, to lodge, to rest.

   Snow alights on a roof.

   5 more examples

   A flying bird alights upon a tree.

   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.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 20, page 38

   Then from his loftie ſtand on that high Tree / Down he alights among the ſportful Herd / Of thoſe fourfooted kindes, himſelf now one, […]

   1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 395–397

   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.

   1720, Homer, “Book XXIII”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, pages 108–109, lines 1038–1041

   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; […]

   1819, Lord Byron, Mazeppa, a Poem, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XVIII, pages 41–42, lines 770–777

In a sentence

He alighted from his horse.

Where it comes from

1. Old Englishġelīhtan“to descend; to come down, dismount; to make easy or light, alleviate, lighten, relieve”
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁lengʷʰ-“not heavy, light”
3. Old Englishālīhtan“to alight, dismount”
4. Middle Englishalighten“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”
5. Englishalight

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)