alight ( gh silent) (1)

i. (pret. alighted, or, in poetry, alit ). [A.S. ( a ) lihtan, gelihtun = to alight, to descend from from liht, leht = light, not heavy. The meaning is thus to lighten anything by removing a weight from it.] 1. To descend, as a bird from the wing; to cease flying and rest upon the ground. "That there should be geese and frigate-birds with webbed feet, either living on the dry land or most rarely alighting on the water."- Darwin : Origin of Species, ch. vi. "I saw his wing through twilight flit, And once so near me he alit , I could have smote, but lacked the strength." Byron Mazeppa , 8. 2. To descend, as a person from a carriage, or from horseback. "My lord, alig ting at his usual place, The Crown, took notice of an ostler's face." Cowper: Retirement, 585. 3. To reach the ground, as falling snow, or anything else descending from the sky, or fro in above one. "But storms of stones from the proud temple's height Pour down, and on our battered helms alight . " Dryden: Virgil; Eneid ii. 554. 4. To stop, to pause as a man on foot running. "Cane running in But he for nought would stay his pa age right, Till fast before the king he did alight ." Spenser: F. Q., I. xii 24, 25. 5. To light on, happen on, meet with. "By good fortune I alighted on a collection of MSS. in the State-paper office." -Froude: Hist. Eng ., iv. 549. a-light ( gh silent) (2), v.t. [A.S. alihtan .] Το make light, to remove a weight from, to lighten. a-light ( gh silent) (3), v.t. [A.S. aleohtan, alyhtan to illumine; leoht = light.] 1. To illumine, to give light to. "For to wi en hem by night A fiery piller hem alight ." Gower: C. F. , ii. 183. 2. To set alight, to set light to. "Anon fer sche alight ." Layle Freine, 199. a-light' ( gh silent), a. [ALIGHT, v.] Alighted, as from a horse or vehicle. "How that we bare us in that ilke night, Whan we were in that ostelrie alight ." Chaucer: C. Т., 723, 724. a-light ( gh silent), adv . [ALIGHT(3), v.] Lighted. a-light-ing ( gh silent), pr . par . [ALIGHT.] †a-lign' ( g silent), v.t. & i. [Fr. aligner (1) to lay out in a straight line, (2) to square.] A. Trans.: To measure by means of a line; to regulate or adjust by means of a line. B. In trans. To form a line, as soldiers do. a-līgn'-ment ( gsilent), s. [Eng. align ; -ment.] In Fr. a ligne ment.] 1. The act of adjusting by means of a line. 2. The state of being so adjusted. 3. The line of adjustment. 4. Engin.: The ground-plan of a road or earthwork.