(Compar. brighter, -est.) Forms: 1 beorht, berht, byrht, bryht, 1–3 breht, 2–4 briht, 3–4 briȝt, 4–5 bryȝt, bryght, 4– bright. Also 2–3 brict, 2–4 bricht, 3–5 brith, 4 brit, brith(e, brigth, 5 bryth, bryȝth; Sc. 4–6 brycht, 4– bricht. [Common Teut., though now lost in all the langs. exc. English: OE. beorht (:—berht) = OS. berht, beraht, OHG. beraht, bereht (MHG. berht), ON. bjartr, Goth. bairhts:—OTeut. *berhto-z, from a stem *berh:—Aryan bhrag-, whence also Skr. bhrāj- to shine, and L. flagrā-re to blaze, flamma flame. The metathesis of breht for berht occurs already in Lindisf. Gloss.]
A. adj. (In general, the opposite of dull.)
1. Shining; emitting, reflecting, or pervaded by much light.
a. said of luminaries.
a. 1000. Metr. Boeth., xxii. 22. Berhtre þonne se leoma sie sunnan on sumera.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 1258 (Gr.). Þa cwom leohta mæst … scinan beorht ofer burʓsalu.
c. 1175. Lamb. Homilies, 39. Seofesiðe brihtre þene þa sunne.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 2. The altitude of the Mone, or of brihte sterres.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. Prol. 1. Hornyt Lady, paill Cynthia, nocht brycht.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xxii. 16. The bright mornynge starre.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. i. 97. That I should loue a bright particuler starre.
1747. Hervey, Medit. & Contempl. (1818), 17. They will shine with brighter beams … in their Lord’s everlasting kingdom.
1879. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., ii. ix. 51. One of the brightest lights that we know of—the lime-light.
b. of polished metals, precious stones, and other objects whose surfaces naturally reflect light.
a. 1000. Rood, 66 (Gr.). On beorhtan stane.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 71, in O. E. Misc., 3. It makeð his eȝen briȝt.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 168. A belle of brasse Or of briȝte syluer.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 52. Bryghte swerde, splendona.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, Prol. 152. In habyte gaye and glorious, Brychtar nor gold or stonis precious.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, I. xl. § 5. 58. Bright Wheate … this kinde is fower square, somwhat bright and shining.
1652. Proc. Parliament, No. 170. A great box of bright new cast bullets.
1723. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1753), I. 40. Teeth so bright, and breath so sweet.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), I. 34. The eyes of the amphibia are in general large and bright.
1842. Macaulay, Horatius, xxi. The long array of helmets bright.
c. of illuminated surfaces, of the day in sunshine, etc.
a. 1000. Elene, 822 (Gr.). In þære beorhtan byriʓ, þær is broðor min.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 13541 (Fairf.). Wirk … quen þe day lastis brit.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 288. Apon ye morn, quhen yat ye day was brycht.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 129. Our soule irradiate or made bryght with the lyght of the aungell.
1737. Pope, Hor. Epist., I. i. 138. The evening bright and still.
1832. Macaulay, Armada, xxxvi. That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, viii. 3. Bright once the days and sunny shone the light on thee.
d. of transparent substances: Clear, translucent.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 100, ¶ 1. Which had purified the whole Body of Air into such a bright transparent Æther, as made every Constellation visible.
1716. Fenton, Ode Ld. Gower, 48, Wks. 1802, 93 (J).
| While the bright Seine t’ exalt the soul, | |
| With sparkling plenty crowns the bowl. |
1728. Thomson, Spring (J.). From … the brightest Wines, He’d turn abhorrent.
e. fig. Lit up with happiness, gladness or hope.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 165, ¶ 3. The brightest hours of prosperity have their clouds.
1815. Moore, Lalla R., Fire-worshippers. Bright hours atone for dark ones past.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 193. Chances of deliverance brighter than any that had offered themselves.
† 2. Clear or luminous to the mental perception.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 815 (Gr.). Gif hy halʓes word healdan woldun beorht in breostum.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 119. Þe holi gost … alihte hem of brihtere and of festere bileue.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xi. (J.). The querist must not proceed too swiftly…, that he may with more ease, with brighter evidence, and with surer success, draw the learner on.
3. Of persons: ‘Resplendent with charms’ (J.); beautiful, fair. arch.
c. 1250. Hymn Virg., 14, in Trin. Coll. Hom., 255. Nis non maide … swo fair, so sschene, so rudi, swo bricht.
a. 1300. Havelok, 2131. In his armes his brithe bride.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace, lviii. That ladi gente That was so bryȝte of ble.
c. 1460. in Babees Bk. (1868), 15. In chambur among ladyes bryȝth.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 490. By thy bright beauty was it newly bred. Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 22. Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.
c. 1600. Bessie of Bednal Grene, II. ii. He had a faire daughter of bewty most bright.
1704. Pope, Windsor For., 232. Like the bright beauties on thy banks below.
1817. Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves (1862), 279. A bright lady, surpassingly fair.
4. Of vivid or brilliant color: used also with names of color, as bright red.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 10. The treis begouth to ma Burgeonys and brycht blwmys alsua.
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 406/2. The kinds of colour are … Ten, Black, White, and the rest between them, Yellow, Tawney, Pale, Red, Blew, Green, Bright, Grey.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 128. His Colour Gray: For Beauty dappled, or the brightest Bay.
1704. Pope, Past., Spring, 31. Here the bright crocus and blue violet grew.
a. 1835. Mrs. Hemans, Better Land. Strange bright birds, on their starry wings.
1836. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-bks. (1871), I. 20. Wild rose-bushes … with their deep, bright-red seed-vessels.
5. Of sounds: † a. Clear, shrill, ringing. Said of the mental effect of a note.
a. 1000. Cod. Exon., 79 b (Bosw.). Sum hafaþ beorhte stefne.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 1681. For boþe we habbeþ stefne brihte.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2780. God sente a steune briȝt and heȝ.
1872. J. Curwen, Standard Course, 4/2. They are the bold … tones of the scale…, but they differ in the manner of their boldness, one being brighter, another stronger,… &c.
6. Illustrious, glorious, splendid. (Lat. clarus.)
a. 1000. Ags. Psalter cxxi[i]. 6. Biddað eow bealde beorhtere sibbe.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, Metr. Pref. 60. To buske vs to the blysse ful brigth.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. ii. 13. Bryght and notable with miracles.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1491. Troy had been bright with fame and not with fire.
1660. Barrow, Euclid (1714), Pref. 1. Some of a brighter Genius.
1681. Cotton, Wond. Peake, 16 (J.).
| And ’twas the worst, if not the only stain, | |
| I’th’ brightest Annals of a Female Reign. |
1734. Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 282. The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.
1783. Watson, Philip III. (1793), I. II. 232. Exhibited a bright example of the most heroic valour.
7. Lively, cheerful, brilliant or animated in conversation, vivacious; the opposite of dull.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 28. Be bright and Iouiall among your Guests.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 208, ¶ 4. I would rather be in his Company than that of the brightest Man I know.
1885. Manch. Exam., 15 May, 6/1. He turned up to-day as jaunty and bright as a young buck of twenty-five.
8. Of thought, conversation, writings, etc.: Animated with wit or imagination, lively, clever, brilliant, sparkling.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 31, ¶ 10. You’ll certainly print this bright Conversation.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. 1787, IV. 109. If he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., ii. 10. I really believe some people save their bright thoughts as being too precious for conversation.
1884. R. W. Church, Bacon, ix. 220. Some bright touch of his incorrigible imaginativeness.
9. Displaying great intelligence; quick-witted, clever. (In standard English used chiefly in speaking of children or one’s inferiors.)
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind (1801), 24. Before we proceed in finishing a bright character by conversation.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 203. I began life unluckily by being the wag and bright fellow at school.
1883. Gilmour, Mongols, xxxii. 367. A few soldiers not of the brightest or bravest type.
1885. Alice D. Le Plongeon, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 385/1. If they [eggs] do [break readily], the child will be extra bright.
Mod. (Ironical) He is a bright specimen!
b. Sharp, keen, watchful.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxi. 117. We kept a bright look-out—one man at each bow.
1860. Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 41. The look out … is not a very ‘bright’ one.
10. Comb.: chiefly parasynthetic, as bright-bloomed, -cheeked, -costumed, -eyed, -faced, -featured, -haired, -harnessed, -headed, -studied, -witted, etc.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, IX. Cc ij b. Brightheaded Phœbus … Beheld … bothe Latines hoasts and Troyan fort.
1592. Greene, Poems, 85. Bright-eyed his Phillis was.
1598. Chapman, Iliad, I. 294. Bright-cheek’d Briseis.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 23. Bright-haired Vesta.
1786. Cowper, Gratitude, 13. This wheel-footed studying chair … Bright-studded to dazzle the eyes.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., 25th Sund. aft. Trin. i. The bright-hair’d morn is glowing.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 46. Thy little bright-faced son.
B. sb.
1. Brightness, light. arch. (poet.)
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 143. Ðe sunnes briȝt, Is more ðanne ðe mones liȝt.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 815. What is the sunne wors of kynd right, Thogh that a man, for feblenes of eyen, May not endure to se on it for bright?
1598. Rowlands, Betray. Christ, 57. O Sunne whose shine is heav’ns eternall bright.
1636. Ariana, 17. Acknowledging here so much brights and beauties.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 380. Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appeer.
1839. Bailey, Festus (1848), 59/2. Others … whose forms for utter bright Are indefinable.
† 2. A beautiful woman, a ‘fair.’ Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 754. Breue me, bryȝt, quat-kyn of priys Berez þe perle so maskellez.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 607. Throuch bewte off that brycht.
c. 1505. Dunbar, Poem, ‘In secreit place this hyndir nycht.’ I hard ane beyrne say till ane bricht.
