lightsome
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English lightsum, equivalent to light (“bright”, adjective) + -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).
Adjective edit
lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome) (literary)
- Characterised by light; luminous; emitting or manifesting light; radiant.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- 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, published 2005, page 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 edit
Derived terms edit
- lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
- lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)
Translations edit
Etymology 2 edit
From light (“not heavy”, adjective) + -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives). Cognate with Middle High German līhtsam, modern German leichtsam.
Adjective edit
lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)
- Characterised by lightness of weight, not heavy; nimble, active.
- 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 edit
- lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
- lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)