lightsome

English

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlʌɪtsəm/

Etymology 1

From light (noun) +‎ -some.

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

  1. Characterised by light; luminous; emitting or manifesting light; radiant.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto VII:
      While in their mothers wombe enclosd they were, / Ere they into the lightsom world were brought, / In fleshly lust were mingled both yfere […]
    • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, xlix:
      This said, the smoky cloud was cleft and torn, / Which like a veil upon them stretched lay, // And up to open heav'n forthwith was borne, / And left the prince in view of lightsome day.
    • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p.105:
      There came a day when he remembered the moment, when he regretted that he had not ridden off into the buoyant midst of these lightsome elements.
    • 2006, Goswin (of Bossut.), Martinus Cawley, Send me God:
      If any find it incredible that Ida be even outwardly so lightsome that she saw clearly in the night, let them answer this question.
    • 2009, David Rooney, The wine of certitude:
      The literal sense of the Greek is: “If therefore thy whole body is lightsome, having no part darksome, thy whole body will be lightsome, as when the lamp lightens thee with its flashing.”
Antonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From light (“not heavy”, adjective) +‎ -some.

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

  1. Upbeat; cheery; light graceful.
    • 1983, Raimon Panikkar, The Vedic experience:
      Reality is lightsome, that is, light and graceful.... Moreover, the play, the lightsome character of reality, would be misunderstood if this dimension were to be severed from what really makes a play a play, [...]
    • 1999, Thomas Middleton, David M. Bevington, Kathleen McLuskie, Plays on women - Page 69:
      When I was of your youth, I was lightsome and quick two years before I was married.
Derived terms
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.