lights

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪts/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪts

Etymology 1

Noun

lights

1. plural of light

Noun

lights pl (plural only)

1. The lungs, now chiefly of an animal (being lighter than adjacent parts).
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     But forst him gape and gaspe, with dread aghast, / As if his lungs and lites were nigh asunder brast.

   • 1838, William Tennant, Anster fair, a poem, page 22:

     […] / hard puffing breasts and dance-o'erwearied lungs. / And truly had the crier will'd to shout / The doughty Piper's name through polish's trump, / His breath had not suffic'd to twang it out, / So did the poor man's lights puff, pant, and jump: / Wherefore to rest them from that dancing-bout, / […]

   • 2013, Dean King, The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story, Little, Brown, →ISBN:

     A hog's lights (or lungs), spleen, and brain found their way into dishes, as did the heart, liver, kidneys, and head, all considered delicacies. Even the feet, ears, and tail were eaten. The hooves were boiled to make glue.

Derived terms

• according to one's lights
• by one's lights
• rising of the lights

Etymology 2

Verb

lights

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of light

Anagrams

• slight