lightsome

lightsome

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌɪtsəm/

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightsum, equivalent to light (“bright”, adjective) +‎ -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)(literary)

1. 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 960102938:

     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

• darksome

Derived terms

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)

Translations

luminous

Bulgarian: светъл (bg) (svetǎl), сияен (bg) (sijaen)

Etymology 2

From light (“not heavy”, adjective) +‎ -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

1. Characterised by lightness of weight, not heavy; nimble, active.
2. 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

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)