lightless en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- lītʹlĕs
- /ˈlaɪtlɛs/
Etymology
From Middle English lightles, from Old English lēohtlēas, from Proto-West Germanic *leuhtalaus; equivalent to light (noun) + -less (“lacking, without”). Cognate with West Frisian ljochtleas, Dutch lichtloos, German lichtlos.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Lacking light; unilluminated; dark.
Knocked about on the wooden seat of the rackety rickety dim-lit bus, going past silent fields and past houses which were lightless and dead or bright and private, Mr Biswas no longer thought of the afternoon’s mission, but of the night ahead.
1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 5:From the besieged Ardea all in post, Borne by the trustless wings of false desire, Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host, And to Collatium bears the lightless fire Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire And girdle with embracing flames the waist Of Collatine’s fair love, Lucrece the chaste.
1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:"I can’t stand much of this," said Hurstwood, whose legs ached him painfully, as he sat down upon the miserable bunk in the small, lightless chamber allotted to him.
1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie:Touch with thy flame the lightless lamp of my sorrow.
1918, Rabindranath Tagore, “Lover’s Gift and Crossing”, in Crossing, New York: Macmillan, 7, p. 85:
Deriveds
Translations (4)
pl bezświetlny (lacking light) · fi valoton (lacking light) · is ljóslaus (lacking light) · grc ἀφεγγής (lacking light)