lightsome

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌɪtsəm/

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightsum, equivalent to light (“bright”, adjective) +‎ -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

1. (literary) Characterised by light; luminous; emitting or manifesting light; radiant.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     While in their mothers wombe enclosd they were, / Ere they into the lightsom world were brought, / In fleshly lust were mingled both yfere […]

   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, xlix:

     This said, the smoky cloud was cleft and torn, / Which like a veil upon them stretched lay, // And up to open heav'n forthwith was borne, / And left the prince in view of lightsome day.

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 105:

     There came a day when he remembered the moment, when he regretted that he had not ridden off into the buoyant midst of these lightsome elements.

   • 2006, Goswin (of Bossut.), Martinus Cawley, Send me God:

     If any find it incredible that Ida be even outwardly so lightsome that she saw clearly in the night, let them answer this question.

   • 2009, David Rooney, The wine of certitude:

     The literal sense of the Greek is: “If therefore thy whole body is lightsome, having no part darksome, thy whole body will be lightsome, as when the lamp lightens thee with its flashing.”

Antonyms

• darksome

Derived terms

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)

Translations

luminous

• Bulgarian: светъл (bg) (svetǎl), сияен (bg) (sijaen)

Etymology 2

From light (“not heavy”, adjective) +‎ -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives). Cognate with Middle High German līhtsam, modern German leichtsam.

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

1. Characterised by lightness of weight, not heavy; nimble, active.
2. Upbeat; cheery; light graceful.
   • 1983, Raimon Panikkar, The Vedic experience:

     Reality is lightsome, that is, light and graceful.... Moreover, the play, the lightsome character of reality, would be misunderstood if this dimension were to be severed from what really makes a play a play, [...]

   • 1999, Thomas Middleton, David M. Bevington, Kathleen McLuskie, Plays on women - Page 69:

     When I was of your youth, I was lightsome and quick two years before I was married.

Derived terms

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)