unlight

English

Etymology 1

From un- +‎ light or, in the case of the verb, perhaps from Middle English *unlighten (suggested by past participle unlight, unlyght, unliȝt (“unlit”)), equivalent to un- +‎ light.

Verb

unlight (third-person singular simple present unlights, present participle unlighting, simple past and past participle unlighted or unlit)

1. (transitive, rare) To extinguish, turn off, or dim the light from
   • 2002, Ilya Kaminsky, Ilya Kaminsky Greatest Hits:

     His father, in another room, unlights the lamp and leaves the world alone.

   • 2005, Conrad H. Gempf, Mealtime Habits of the Messiah:

     Remember Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first Star Wars film? At one point in the big duel, he unlights his light sabre and stands defenseless but confident before Darth Vader, saying sonorously, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

   • 2012, Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Vintage, →ISBN, page 154:

     It would be so easy to trace Ian's death back to that match, the one he said he would not unlight if he could. The one that made him appear to be a monster and therefore unfit for romantic love, while also making him rich […]

Noun

unlight (plural unlights)

1. (literary or poetic) The absence of light; darkness.
   • 2008, Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Death Metal, Bazillion Points Books, →ISBN, page 255:

     Those of the Unlight is probably Marduk's most traditional black metal recording, and one of my personal favorites.

   • 2009, Tobias Druitt, Corydon and the Island of Monsters, Yearling, →ISBN, page 104:

     "The door will only open when you strike it under the unlight of a moon at full dark. And the moon is many days from full dark now." Corydon gasped.

   • 2011, Greg Harvey, The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     The unlight of Ungoliant
     Tolkien, always mindful of his language and especially his metaphors for light, was careful not to call the cloak that Ungoliant wove to hide Melkor and herself during their attack [on] the Two Trees a darkness.

   • 2012, EJ Spurrell, Children of the Halo: Engines of Creation 1, EJ Spurrell, page 152:

     “They move and shake, from the unlight! The unlight which blackensss and ssscarsss!” “These men, are they a threat to us? To our plans for these lands?” “They are a threat to the way of thingsss! They count among them powerful magii and  […] ”

   • 2019, Bernadette von Dreien, Hilary Snellgrove, Christina, Book 2: The Vision of the Good, Govinda-Verlag, →ISBN:

     […] solidarity to the beings of the unlight, but apart from that, they avoid them. They do this because they also respect the will of the dark beings to stay far away from the light. Light beings don't see the unlight as an enemy […]

   • 2020, A.F.E. Smith, Dawn Rising, IronWright Books, →ISBN:

     Luthan chokes again, coughing up more blood, and for the first time Oriana sees the unlight. She is not sure how else to describe it. An absence of light, a greyness, hovering over the wound like a cloud. It needs mending.

Etymology 2

From Middle English unlighten (“to lighten the burden of; alleviate; dismount from horseback”), equivalent to un- +‎ light (“to alight”).

Verb

unlight (third-person singular simple present unlights, present participle unlighting, simple past and past participle unlighted)

1. (intransitive, now dialectal) To alight; dismount
   • 1838, Edward Lanzer Joseph, Warner Arundell the adventures of a creole:

     I would rather take the water unmixed," said I. "Just as you like," said the old soldier; "but please to unlight, and come into my barracks, at all events."

   • 2015, Bertrand Harris Bronson, The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads:

     Unlight, unlight, you gay Lady Unlight of your middle quite speed Deliver it unto me For I seems it looks too rich and too gay To melder all in the salt sea.

Etymology 3

From Middle English unlight, unlyght, unliȝt (“not light (in weight)”), equivalent to un- +‎ light.

Adjective

unlight

1. (rare) Not light (“having little weight”).
   • 1821, Walter Scott, The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, page 58:

     And thought to bere him doun; With a launce unlight, He smote him in the lyoun; And Tristrem that was wight […]

   • 2018, Runas C. Powers III, A Right to Write, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:

     Heavy shoulders, of a burden so unlight. Yet because of you, I can see your way through. To now I see through the darkness, with your light. By making my heavy burdens so light. And so my spirit, and my soul, are so bright.