alight

«alight» in Mova's school dictionary: on fire or burning — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (alight — only after a verb); verb (alight, alights, alighted, alighting — formal)

meaning for a pupil

1) Alight means on fire or burning. tree →

2) Alight can mean shining with happiness or light, like eyes alight with joy. tree →

3) To alight (formal) is to get off a bus, train or other vehicle. tree →

4) To alight (formal) is for a bird or insect to land on something. tree →

sense in the lessons

In fire safety lessons, «set alight» means caught fire, and children learn never to play with matches or lighters. On UK, Irish and Australian buses and trains, announcements say «Please alight here» or «Alight at the next stop». In stories, a face or eyes «alight» with excitement. Phrases: «set alight», «catch alight», «alight from the train».

examples

• The bonfire was soon alight. tree →
• The curtains caught alight from the candle. tree →
• Never set anything alight without an adult. tree →
• Passengers should alight at the next stop. tree →
• A butterfly alighted on the flower. tree →
• Her eyes were alight with excitement. tree →
• We alighted from the train at the seaside. tree →
• The whole sky seemed alight at sunset. tree →
• As for the peacock, it alighted on the old dame's shoulder. tree →

note

As an adjective it comes after a verb: «The house was alight», not «an alight house» (say «a burning house»). Past form of the verb: alighted (or alit, rare). «Alight» meaning «get off» is formal; in speech people say «get off».

In the corpora

• And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «alight» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.