illumine

See also: illuminé

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French illuminer, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin illūmināre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈl(j)uːmɪn/

Verb

1. (transitive) To illuminate.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis,^[1]

     And as the bright sun glorifies the sky,

     So is her face illumined with her eye;

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 22-26,^[2]

     […] what in me is dark

     Illumine, what is low raise and support;

     That, to the height of this great argument,

     I may assert Eternal Providence,

     And justify the ways of God to men.

   • 1789, Ann Ward Radcliffe, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, London: T. Hookham, Chapter 9, p. 185,^[3]

     The moon shone faintly by intervals, through broken clouds upon the waters, illumining the white foam which burst around, and enlightening the scene sufficiently to render it visible.

   • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 133:

     Fanny’s attractions increased—increased two-fold—for the sensibility which beautified her complexion and illumined her countenance, was an attraction in itself.

   • 1890, H. L. Havell (translator), On the Sublime by Longinus (1^st century CE), London: Macmillan, Part I, p. 3,^[4]

     Skill in invention, lucid arrangement and disposition of facts, are appreciated not by one passage, or by two, but gradually manifest themselves in the general structure of a work; but a sublime thought, if happily timed, illumines an entire subject with the vividness of a lightning-flash, and exhibits the whole power of the orator in a moment of time.

   • 2012, Melanie McDonagh, “Where have all the book illustrators gone?” The Independent, 20 January, 2012,^[5]

     […] the possibility that illustrations could actually illumine writing and draw out elements of a narrative doesn’t seem to count for much any more.

2. (intransitive, rare) To light up.
   • 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, p. 18:

     ‘Shell-shock.’ Our faces did not illumine so she dragged on lamely. ‘Anyway, he's not well.’

Translations

to illuminate

• Greek:

  Ancient: φωτίζω (phōtízō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• limuline

---

French

Verb

illumine

1. first-person singular present indicative of illuminer
2. third-person singular present indicative of illuminer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of illuminer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of illuminer
5. second-person singular imperative of illuminer