lightless

English

Etymology

From Middle English lightles, from Old English lēohtlēas, from Proto-West Germanic *leuhtalaus; equivalent to light (noun) +‎ -less (“lacking, without”). Cognate with West Frisian ljochtleas, Dutch lichtloos, German lichtlos.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lītʹlĕs
• IPA^(key): /laɪtlɛs/

Adjective

lightless (not comparable)

1. Lacking light; unilluminated; dark.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)‎^[1], London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

     From the besieged Ardea all in post,
     Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,
     Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
     And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
     Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
     And girdle with embracing flames the waist
     Of Collatine’s fair love, Lucrece the chaste.

   • 1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie‎^[2]:

     "I can’t stand much of this," said Hurstwood, whose legs ached him painfully, as he sat down upon the miserable bunk in the small, lightless chamber allotted to him.

   • 1918, Rabindranath Tagore, “Lover’s Gift and Crossing”, in Crossing‎^[3], New York: Macmillan, 7, p. 85:

     Touch with thy flame the lightless lamp of my sorrow.

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 5:

     Knocked about on the wooden seat of the rackety rickety dim-lit bus, going past silent fields and past houses which were lightless and dead or bright and private, Mr Biswas no longer thought of the afternoon’s mission, but of the night ahead.

Derived terms

• lightlessly (adverb)
• lightlessness (noun)

 

Translations

lacking light

• Finnish: valoton (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀφεγγής (aphengḗs)

• Icelandic: ljóslaus
• Polish: bezświetlny (dated)