LIGHTとは

意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• enPR: līt, IPA^(key): /laɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): [ɫɐɪ̯ʔ]
• (Canada, regional 米国発音) IPA^(key): /lʌɪt/
• 韻: -aɪt
• Homophone: lite
• ハイフネーション: light

語源 1

From Middle English light, liht, leoht, from 古期英語 lēoht, from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“light”). Cognate with Scots licht (“light”), West Frisian ljocht (“light”), Dutch licht (“light”), Low German licht (“light”), German Licht (“light”). Related also to Swedish ljus (“light”), Icelandic ljós (“light”), Latin lūx (“light”), Russian луч (luč, “beam of light”), Armenian լույս (luys, “light”), Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white”).

名詞

light (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 lights)

A city illuminated by colorful artificial lighting at night

1. (physics, uncountable) Visible electromagnetic radiation. The human eye can typically detect radiation (light) in the wavelength range of about 400 to 750 nanometers. Nearby shorter and longer wavelength ranges, although not visible, are commonly called ultraviolet and infrared light.

   As you can see, this spacious dining-room gets a lot of light in the mornings.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

   • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     When the studio light is on, I am recording my evening show.

2. A source of illumination.

   Put that light out!

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

3. Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.

   Can you throw any light on this problem?

   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.

4. (in the plural, now まれに) Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:

     , Book I, New York 2001, page 166:

     Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits […], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.

5. A notable person within a specific field or discipline.

   Picasso was one of the leading lights of the cubist movement.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, A Dream of Fair Women

     Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France

6. (painting) The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade.
7. A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.

   I'm really seeing you in a different light today.

   Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter.

   • 1698, Robert South, Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions:

     , "Why Christ's Doctrine was Rejected by the Jews"

     Frequent consideration of a thing […] shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473:

     Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say.

8. A flame or something used to create fire.

   Hey, buddy, you got a light?

   • 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎^[2]:

     "There will, I expect, be many such - possibly whole cities in flames - when we consider how many folk may have dropped with lights in their hands."

9. A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.

   a Bengal light

10. A window, or space for a window in architecture.

    This facade has eight south-facing lights.

11. The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.

    The average length of a light on a 15×15 grid is 7 or 8.

12. (informal) A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
13. Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.
    • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

      The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light.

14. The power of perception by vision.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 38:10:

      My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eies, it also is gone from me.

15. The brightness of the eye or eyes.
    • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

      He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.

16. A traffic light, or, by extension, an intersection controlled by one or more that will face a traveler who is receiving instructions.

    To get to our house, turn right at the third light.