ALIGHT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does alight mean? 

• ALIGHT (adjective)
  The adjective ALIGHT has 1 sense:

1. lighted up by or as by fire or flame

  Familiarity information: ALIGHT used as an adjective is very rare.

• ALIGHT (verb)
  The verb ALIGHT has 2 senses:

1. to come to rest, settle

2. come down

  Familiarity information: ALIGHT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALIGHT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lighted up by or as by fire or flame

Synonyms:

ablaze; afire; aflame; aflare; alight; on fire

Context example:

houses on fire

Similar:

lighted; lit (set afire or burning)

• ALIGHT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they alight    ... he / she / it alights   
Past simple: alighted    / alit   
Past participle: alighted    / alit   
-ing form: alighting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To come to rest, settle

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

alight; light; perch

Context example:

Misfortune lighted upon him

Hypernyms (to "alight" is one way to...):

land; set down (reach or come to rest)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come down

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

alight; climb down

Context example:

the birds alighted

Hypernyms (to "alight" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

After a long and weary journey, we alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The bird flew away and alighted on the house of a goldsmith and began to sing.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The well-known shops, however, with their cheerful lights, did something for me; and when I alighted at the door of the Gray's Inn Coffee-house, I had recovered my spirits.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to assist me to alight.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There was a puff of white smoke, a burst of flame, and the rough edge of the paper was alight.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You may remember that I was distrait, and remained sitting after you had all alighted.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They alighted out of the coach near a small foot-path in a field, and Glumdalclitch setting down my travelling box, I went out of it to walk.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At the corner an electric car had stopped, and at sight of a lean, familiar figure alighting, his heart leapt with joy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A great moth goes humming by me; it alights on a plant at Mr. Rochester's foot: he sees it, and bends to examine it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At the name I sprang from my bed, and I was in time to see three men, who had alighted from the carriage, file into the lighted hall.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)