lighten

present singular third person lightens · participle present lightening · participle past lightened · past lightened · first person past singular lightened · archaic present second person singular lightenest · past second person singular lightened · archaic past second person singular lightenedst · present singular third person lightens · archaic present singular third person lighteneth · past singular third person lightened · past plural lightened · past subjunctive lightened · participle present lightening · participle past lightened

1. transitiveTo make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.

   to lighten an apartment with lamps or gas; to lighten the streets

   1 more example

   A Key of fire ran all along the shore, And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:

   1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59

   Synonyms: light up

2. intransitiveTo become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
3. archaicintransitiveTo flash lightning, to give off lightning.

   Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]

   c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC, [line 500]

   2 more examples

   […] this dreadful night, That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars As doth the lion.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals)

   While we were in the Twins it began to thunder and lighten and pour with rain.

   1986, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries 1978-1987, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 182

4. transitiveTo emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.

   […] behold his eye, As bright as is the eagle’s, lightens forth Controlling majesty:

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene 3]

5. archaicTo illuminate with knowledge.

   O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day, Which setst the Eye without and Mind within, Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray, Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.

   1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof”, in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies, London: John Standish, page 10

   Synonyms: enlighten

present singular third person lightens · participle present lightening · participle past lightened · past lightened · first person past singular lightened · archaic present second person singular lightenest · past second person singular lightened · archaic past second person singular lightenedst · present singular third person lightens · archaic present singular third person lighteneth · past singular third person lightened · past plural lightened · past subjunctive lightened · participle present lightening · participle past lightened

1. transitiveTo alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

   Many hands lighten the workload.

   2 more examples

   Sorrow can be lightened by being openly brought out.

   She cites a 2015 British poll conducted by the Family Holiday Association that found vacations can serve as “happiness anchors” that provide memories of familial joy to lighten the burdens of adulthood.

   2019 February 1, J. C. Garden, “Interrogating innocence: “Childhood” as exclusionary social practice”, in Childhood, volume 26, number 1, page 55

2. transitiveTo make light or lighter in weight.
3. transitiveTo make less serious or more cheerful.

   They looked unto him, were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 34:5

4. intransitiveTo become light or lighter in weight.
5. intransitiveTo become less serious or more cheerful.

present singular third person lightens · participle present lightening · participle past lightened · past lightened

1. To descend; to light.

   Book of Common Prayer O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.