Dictionary

light into en · VERB

Etymology

Phrasal verb from light (“to get down, drop, come”, verb) + into (“against”, preposition).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To set upon or attack.
   • [H]e lit into that horse with his whip. 1885, Mark Twain, chapter 22, in Huckleberry Finn:
   • [S]he lit into everybody else in the church and gave them a fearful raking down, calling them right out by name and telling them how they all had behaved, and casting up all the quarrels and scandals of the past ten years. 1915, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 11, in Anne of the Island:
   • He speaks with more passion than ever, lighting into George W. Bush for fumbling the economy. 2003 January 13, Diane Roberts, “Graham would make Florida proud”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 16 Jan 2010:
   • "Father grabbed the two guns and told me to light into the other man. I jumped on him and started choking him." 1935 April 25, “U.S. Judge and Wife Killed by Bandits”, in Montreal Gazette, retrieved 16 Jan 2010:

Forms

Synonyms

lam into (attack physically) · criticize (attack verbally) · dress down (attack verbally) · excoriate (attack verbally) · reprimand (attack verbally) · lace into (attack physically) · lam into (attack verbally) · lace into (attack verbally) · rip into (attack verbally) · assail (attack physically) · scold (attack verbally) · tear into (attack verbally) · assault (attack physically) · tear into (attack physically) · rebuke (attack verbally) · rip into (attack physically)