alight2+ (alit)

t. [ pp. alight ), ppr. alighting. [ME. a lighten, alight and Maghter, alyghten, alizten, alyzten, (1) AS. alihtan (occurring but once, in a glo : " Di ilio, Ic of ālīhte," alihte, lit. 'I alight off'), To one like Elia, whose treasures are rather cased in leather covers than closed in iron coffers, there is a cla of alienators more formidable than that which I have touched upon; I mean your borrowers of books. alight We pa 'd along the coast by a very rocky and rugged way, which forc'd us to alight many times before we came to Havre de Grace. Evelyn, Diary, March 23, 1644. a bird 2. To settle or lodge after descending: as, a alights on a tree; snow alights on a roof. Truly spake Mohammed el Damiri, "Wisdom hath alighted upon three things - the brain of the Franks, the hands of the Chinese, and the tongues of the Arabs." R. F. Burton , El-Medinah, p. 333. Whether insects alight on the leaves by mere chance, as a resting-place, or are attracted by the odour of the secre 141