illumine

present singular third person illumines · participle present illumining · participle past illumined · past illumined

1. Synonym of illuminate.
   1. alsofigurativelyliterarytransitiveTo shine light on (something).

      I am like a happy lover / Who illumines life with dreaming!

      1851, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 28

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      Laſt night of al, when yonder ſtarre that's weſtward from the pole, had made his coarſe to illumine that part of heauen. Where now it burnes, Marcellus and myself, The bell then towling one.

      c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

      [O]ut-flew / Millions of flaming ſwords, drawn from the thighs / Of mighty Cherubim; the ſudden blaze / Far round illumin'd hell: […]

      1667, John Milton, “Book I”, 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 663–666

      The moon ſhone faintly by intervals, through broken clouds upon the waters, illumining the white foam which burſt around, and enlightening the ſcene ſufficiently to render it viſible.

      1789, [Ann Radcliffe], chapter IX, in The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne. A Highland Story, London: […] T[homas] Hookham […], →OCLC, page 185

      Thou [Krishna, or the sun] art the being to whom heroes pray in peril of war, nor are their supplications vain when thus they pray, whether it be when thou illuminest the eastern region with thy orient light, when in thy meridian splendour, or when thou majestically descendest in the west.

      1798, [Thomas Maurice], “Concerning the Invasion of India by Semiramis, Queen of Assyria, as Detailed by Classical Writers; with Introductory Remarks Relative to the History of that Ancient Empire and Persia, as Given in the Poorauns. [Literal Translation of a Hymn to Creeshna, or the Sun, from an Ancient Irish Manuscript.]”, in General Valancey, transl., The History of Hindostan; Its Arts, and Its Sciences, as Connected with the History of the Other Great Empires of Asia, during the Most Ancient Periods of the World. […], volume II, London: […] H. L. Galabin, for the author; and sold by T. Gardiner, […], →OCLC, page 170

      The pages which I have the privilege of now introducing to the world, are calculated, I trust, to illumine the dark parts of the field of morals— […]

      a. 1833 (date written), Jeremy Bentham, “Introduction”, in John Bowring, editor, Deontology; or, The Science of Morality: […], volume I, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Browne, Green, and Longman; Edinburgh: William Tait, published 1834, →OCLC, part I (Theory of Virtue), page 1

   2. alsofigurativelyliterarytransitiveTo cause (something) to glow or shine with light.

      And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, / So is her face illumined with her eye; […]

      1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 81]; republished as Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC, verse 81, page 30

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      The ſecond property of your excellent ſherris, is the vvarming of the blood, vvhich before (cold & ſetled) left the lyuer vvhite & pale, vvhich is the badge of puſilanimitie and covvardize: but the ſherris vvarmes it, and makes it courſe from the invvards to the partes extreames, it illumineth the face, vvhich as a beakon, giues vvarning to al the reſt of this little kingdom man to arme, […]

      c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]

      Fanny’s attractions increased—increased two-fold—for the sensibility which beautified her complexion and illumined her countenance, was an attraction in itself.

      1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 133

   3. figurativelyliterarytransitiveTo enlighten (someone) spiritually; to induce (someone) to adopt, or believe in the truth of, a religion, religious tenet, etc.

      Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect, didst thou call to me, my holy and divine teacher, thou Jesus Christ, who illuminedst the spirit world with a light, which was not of this world; […]

      1840, C[hristoph] C[hristian] Sturm, “February XXI. The World, the Mirror of Eternity.”, in Robert Huish, transl., Evening Devotions; or, The Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth for Every Day in the Year. […], London: William Wright […], →OCLC, page 148

   4. figurativelyliterarytransitiveTo cause (the eyes) to see.
   5. figurativelyliterarytransitiveTo cause (a person or their face) to show enlightenment, happiness, etc.
   6. figurativelyliteraryraretransitiveTo enlighten (someone) intellectually.

      What in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raiſe and ſupport; / That to the highth of this great Argument / I may aſſert th' Eternal Providence, / And juſtifie the wayes of God to men.

      1667, John Milton, “Book I”, 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 22–26

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      This benighted mind, only illumined by a kind of miserable astuteness, and that 'cunning of the belly' which is born of want to engender avarice— […] had a pathos for his lively sympathies and his fresh heart.

      1846, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Lawyer and the Body-snatcher”, in Lucretia: Or The Children of Night. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, part II, page 220

   7. figurativelyliterarytransitiveartTo decorate (a page of a manuscript book) with ornamental designs.

      To Cato, Virgil pay'd one honeſt line; / O let my Country's Friends illumin mine!

      1738, [Alexander] Pope, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight. Dialogue II, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 9

   8. intransitiveTo become bright; to light up.
   9. figurativelyintransitiveTo enlighten intellectually.

      To trace the trail of feelings which such crises and calamities might be expected to breed in a woman of ordinary sensibility might have filled volumes. A dramatist, of course, has no volumes to fill. He is forced to contract. Even so, he can illumine; he can reveal enough for us to guess the rest.

      1925 April, Virginia Woolf, “Notes on an Elizabethan Play”, in The Common Reader, 2nd edition, London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], published November 1925, →OCLC, page 77

   10. figurativelyintransitiveOf a person or their face: to show enlightenment, happiness, etc.

       "Shell-shock." Our faces did not illumine so she dragged on lamely, "Anyway, he's not well."

       1918 March, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter I, in The Return of the Soldier, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., published 1918, →OCLC, page 22