[OE. líhtnes (= OHG. liuchtnisse), f. líht, léoht LIGHT a.2 + -NESS.]
† 1. Brightness, light (lit. and fig.). Obs.
a. 1023. Wulfstan, Hom. (Napier), 230. Se sunnandæʓ is restendæʓ and wuldorlic dæʓ and lihtnesse dæʓ.
a. 1325. in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 145. Alle þe liȝtnesse was aleyd. Sonne & mone lorn her liȝt.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xl. (1869), 91. The sunne … maketh his lightnesse passe thoruh the cloude.
c. 1531. Latimer, 1st Let. to Baynton, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 1322/2. They were vnapte to receyue the bryghte lyghtnes of the truthe.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 922. We knowe selfely the soveraygne lyghtnesse to be darked of a lyght cloude.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xiii. His countenance … is now … rendered wild by an insane lightness about the eyes.
2. The condition or state of being illuminated; illumination. Now only lit.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1559. In ðat dred his ðoȝt was led In to liȝtnesse for to sen, Quow god wulde it sulde ben.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13543. To-quils i in þis werld be, It has na lightnes bot o me.
1591. F. Sparry, trans. Cattan’s Geomancie (1599), 29. By the lightnesse and darkenesse which shee receiueth of him.
1651–7. T. Barker, Art of Angling (1820), 2. Thus must you to work with your flyes, light for darkness, and dark for lightness.
1832. Lytton, Eugene A., II. vii. The first thing that struck Walter in this apartment was its remarkable lightness.
