Talk:punch someone's lights out

Does "lights" here refer to the eyes? John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1873) gives this definition of "lights", but we don't precisely have it (though "The brightness of the eye or eyes" comes close). Equinox ◑ 19:21, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

I've only heard that it means the lungs. When a land animal dies in water, the lungs float to the surface as the body decays, sometimes bringing still-attached fragments of the body with them. This is because the lungs are the lightest organ of the body. We have this sense at lights but not currently at light. —Soap— 12:33, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

Just noticed that Hotten also (somewhat contradictorily) has "light" defined as "life", with the comment that "'I'll put your light out' is a murderous threat". Equinox ◑ 13:21, 23 January 2024 (UTC)