sighten

S1I1G2H4T1E1N1

verb

To add a fugitive colour to (a paste), to enable the printer to determine whether the figures are well-printed or not.

Scrabble 11
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Meanings

verbsighten (third-person singular simple present sightens, present participle sightening, simple past and past participle sightened)

present singular third person sightens · participle present sightening · participle past sightened · past sightened

  1. transitivecalico-printingTo add a fugitive colour to (a paste), to enable the printer to determine whether the figures are well-printed or not.

    The iron liquor should be sightened with logwood.

    1830, Samuel Frederick Gray, The Chemistry of the Arts
    1 more example

    Annexed is a specimen of calico in this stage of the process, the mordant on which is red liquor, “sightened” with a little decoction of peach-wood or similar dye-stuff.

    1849, Edward Andrew Parnell, Dyeing and Calico-printing, page 132

Origin

From sight + -en.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

HengistgentishGithensThesing
Cite this entry
APA

sighten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sighten

MLA

“sighten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sighten. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sighten,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sighten.

Source: sighten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.