light up
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Etymology 1
Phrasal verb from light (“to make bright, ignite”, verb) + up (“to a higher degree”, adverb).
Verb
light up (third-person singular simple present lights up, present participle lighting up, simple past and past participle lit up)
- (transitive) To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:Episode 12, The Cyclops:
- The deafening claps of thunder and the dazzling flashes of lightning which lit up the ghastly scene testified that the artillery of heaven had lent its supernatural pomp to the already gruesome spectacle.
- 2009, President Nixon's Pilot, Jim Bell, in The Propinquity Effect →ISBN:
- When we cranked up the engine, the fire warning light lit up.
- (transitive) To show an increase in activity or a brightening of mood.
- Lua error in Module:quote at line 901: |origdate= should contain a full date (year, month, day of month); use |origyear= for year
- He saw Mary and his face lit up.
- (intransitive) To light a cigarette, pipe, etc.
- Smoking in this building is not allowed, so I always step outside to light up.
- (transitive) To make happy.
- 2001, Ash, Shining Light
- You are a shining light, and you light up my life.
- 2010, WLTX.com, Young Girl Continues Bike Giveaway Tradition, 25 Nov 2010
- "It lights me up, make me happy. Sometimes I go home, go in my room and cry with joy,"said Hudson smiling
- 2001, Ash, Shining Light
- (transitive, slang) To open fire on a target or group of targets.
- (chiefly US, transitive, slang) To shock (someone) with a stun gun.
Translations
to bring light to something
to become light
|
to light a cigarette, etc.
|
Etymology 2
Phrasal verb from light (“to make less heavy”, verb) + up (“to a higher degree”, adverb).
Verb
light up (third-person singular simple present lights up, present participle lighting up, simple past and past participle lighted up)
- (transitive, nautical) To loosen, slacken, or ease off.
- to light up the jib-sheets
References
- William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “light2”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes III (Hoop–O), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 3447.
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English phrasal verbs
- English phrasal verbs formed with "up"
- English multiword terms
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English slang
- American English
- en:Nautical
- English terms with usage examples
- English idioms
- English phrasal verbs with particle (up)
- en:Smoking