Enlighten

Origins

Possibly inlighten (14th c.: see sense 4) was a secondary form of inlight

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For lessons on the topic of Enlightenment, follow this link.

Definitions

• 1. trans. To put light into, make luminous.

b. To light, set light to (a lamp, a combustible). Obs.

• 2. To shed light upon, illuminate (an object, scene, etc.); to give light to (persons). Also absol. Now chiefly poet. or rhetorical.

b. fig. To throw light upon, elucidate (a subject). Obs.

• 3. a. To light, give light to (a room or building) by lamps, etc., or by windows. b. To light (a district, town, etc.); to furnish with lighting apparatus. Obs.

• 4. In Biblical phrase: To remove dimness or blindness from (the eyes, and fig. the heart). Obs.

• 5. fig. To supply with intellectual light; to impart knowledge or wisdom to; to instruct. In mod. use often humorously in trivial sense: To inform, remove (one's) ignorance of something.

b. In religious use: To supply with spiritual light.

• 6. Contextually: To revive, exhilarate. (Cf. lighten, brighten, in similar connexion.) Obs.

See Also

• Wake
• The Enlightenment

Quote

We recognize the impossibility of fully translating the language of the concepts of divinity and eternity into the symbols of the language of the finite concepts of the mortal mind. But we know that there dwells within the human mind a fragment of God, and that there sojourns with the human soul the Spirit of Truth; and we further know that these spirit forces conspire to enable material man to grasp the reality of spiritual values and to comprehend the philosophy of universe meanings.[1]