alight

a·light1 /əˈlaɪt/ adjectiveadj [not before noun]

1 BURNburning 燃烧的

The car was set alight and pushed over a hill.

那辆汽车被点燃后就被推下山去。

Alight is mostly used in journalism or in literature. In everyday English, people usually say on fire: alight大多用于新闻报道或文学作品中。在日常英语中，人们一般说on fire

The car had been deliberately set on fire.

这辆车被人蓄意纵火焚烧。

2 EXCITEDHAPPY literary someone whose face or eyes are alight looks excited, happy, etc 〔兴奋得〕神采飞扬的；眉开眼笑的

alight with excitement/pleasure/laughter etc

Jed’s face was alight with excitement.

杰德神采奕奕。

3. BRIGHT literary bright with light or colour 〔光线或色彩〕明亮的

Examples from the Corpus

alight• A single standard lamp was alight.• Further timber was then heaped round the base, soaked in paraffin and then set alight.• Mr Chittenden had already doused himself in a flammable liquid and set himself alight.• Often she fell asleep with the candle still alight.• She waited until he grew nearer and then walked up to him, her face alight.• But it stayed alight and soon began to burn merrily.• He broke in, set a parachute alight and then went back to start a better one.• Something else was alight in the undergrowth.

set alight• The bank was set alight 20 years ago and continues to smoulder.• Houses and cars were set alight.• Further timber was then heaped round the base, soaked in paraffin and then set alight.• Some accounts say that the fire engines were attacked, overturned, and set alight.• Burning car: Thieves set alight a stolen car in a field near Stokesley.• As the final starbursts exploded above the ferry, the fishing boat was set alight and slowly began to sink.• Bales of hay and tyres were set alight, damaging the entrance of one office.• But it's the first time a cell has been set alight since the brand new modern jail was opened.• The sun set alight the water drops that speckled their leaves and shadowed the ground beneath them.

alight2 verb [intransitiveI] formal

1. DOWNif a bird or insect alights on something, it stops flying and stands on it 〔鸟或虫等〕飞落 SYN land

2 GET ON OR OFF A BUS, PLANE ETCto step out of a vehicle after a journey 〔从交通工具上〕下来

alight from

She alighted from the train at 74th Street.

她在第74大街下了火车。

3 alight on/upon something phrasal verbphr v formal to suddenly think of or notice something or someone 突然想到[发现]

His mind alighted on several possible answers.

他一下子想到了几个可能的答案。

Examples from the Corpus

alight on/upon • At least we are much nearer than we were in the era your rose-coloured glasses have alighted upon.• As her torch toured the room it alighted on an extraordinary sight.• Towards the central area of trees and bushes starlings streamed, alighting on branches which swayed under the weight.• As more and more moths alight on her dress, she becomes increasingly hysterical.• Then a great orange-and - black butterfly alighted on her knee.• Five or six sparrows instantly alighted on my arms and head, gripping my skin with their bony little claws.• The photographer's glance alights on small details of foliage or suddenly sweeps upwards to the open sky.• Spitfire about to alight on Wasp's deck.

Examples from the Corpus

alight• As the tram was between stops, they were unable to alight.• We alighted from the aircraft steps on to the only paved surface on the island.• Before I could alight from the carriage she was hastily walking away.• Then a great orange-and-black butterfly alighted on her knee.• When Carver alighted outside the Hilton in Park Lane the limo drove past at speed.• A returning female alights within a few feet of where she last left her baby.

Origin alight1

(1400-1500) Probably from a- + light

alight2

Old English alihtan, from lihtan “to alight”