Dictionary

brightsome en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English bright Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *somHós Proto-Germanic *samaz Proto-Germanic *-samaz Proto-West Germanic *-sam Old English -sum Middle English -som English -some English brightsome From bright + -some.

Meanings

1. (archaic) Marked by brightness or brilliance; resplendent in appearance; shining.
   • [A]ll the shifts of cloud and sun, all the difference between black death and brightsome liveliness, scarcely may suggest or equal Lorna's transformation. 1869, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 45, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor:
   • Her hair it was of a brightsome color, [...] 2010, William Bay, Fun with Strums Mandolin:
   • “[...] this point, characteristically, the speaker writes himself into the relation: his dull skin requires the “brightsome Colours” of Joseph's coat but more especially of Christ's blood and glory.” 2014, Barbara Kiefer Lewalski, Protestant Poetics and the Seventeenth-Century Religious Lyric:
   • But rather let the brightsome heavens be dim, And nature's beauty choke with stifling clouds, Than my fair Abigail should frown on me. c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act II:
   • The few chairs and the low table had been stripped of paint to reveal the brightsome grain of pine wood. 2008, Paul S. Sunga, Red Dust, Red Sky, →ISBN, page 117:
   • This is a brightsome blaze you've lit good friend, to-night! 1922, Thomas Hardy, “The Wood Fire”, in Late Lyrics and Earlier:

Forms

Deriveds

brightsomeness

Synonyms

luminous · brilliant