Light

As you can see, this spacious dining-room gets a lot of light in the mornings.

Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.

When the studio light is on, I am recording my evening show.

black light

It’s everywhere. At this moment, as you sit quietly reading this book, you are awash in it. At work, it’s emanating from your electronic devices; step outside for lunch, and the sun bathes you in it. You may receive an extra dose of it when you visit your doctor, pass through security at the airport, or drive through city streets, but minuscule amounts of it are with you always. You cannot see, hear, smell, or feel it, but there is never a single second when it is not flying through your body. Too much of it will kill you, but without it you wouldn’t live a year. “Invisible light” seems like a contradiction. Like Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” it’s an oxymoron. We think of light, by definition, as something seen, something that enables our seeing, illuminating the darkness. Unlike dogs, who sniff in order to “get” what an object is, we depend on vision above all our other senses. We rely on light to tell us about our surroundings. But just as there are frequencies of sound audible to other animals that we cannot hear, there is a whole world of light outside our range of vision, a world that is humming with activity. Though we rarely think about this invisible world, our way of life depends on it. It’s because of invisible light that you can do things such as send a text message, use GPS to find your way to a friend’s house, listen to the radio, or microwave a frozen pizza. Invisible light shows us things we would never otherwise see, including our own skeletons and brains and the history of our universe. I was reminded of just how much we rely on invisible light, and how mysterious it remains to us, during a visit from my sister and her family. It was a lazy summer afternoon, and we were sprawled across a few couches sharing a bowl of popcorn. My niece, her shoulders crimson after a day outdoors, was chatting on her cell phone, holding up a promising finger to her mother, who was scolding her for not using sunscreen. My brother-in-law, meanwhile, was asking my opinion on an article he’d read proposing that Wi-Fi be banned in schools because of its dangers. We were all depending on invisible light (for the microwave popcorn, the cell-phone service) while being concerned that it might harm us (sunburn, mysterious Wi-Fi health threats) and confused about what to do to protect ourselves. We need it, and it surrounds us, yet we remain uneasy about living with invisible light, partly because we fear what is unknown. After all, most of us don’t know much about “all the light we cannot see.” This book aims to change that. My hope is to expose the hidden side of the spectrum, to make the invisible (at least temporarily) visible and vivid to you.

Put that light out!

And the light ſhineth in darkneſſe, and the darkneſſe compꝛehended it not.

He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

We turned off all the lights and went to sleep.

The ceiling lights were off, but I knew the narrow light spilling from the lamp on my bureau would be enough for her to see the pale red marks on my chest, which had been fading for so long they had gone back to being shiny again.

To get to our house, turn right at the third light.

Can you throw any light on this problem?

He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.

Greatly interested in these differences—some of them so great that they led me to seek exchanges of light with Englishmen—I looked for some work that would describe and account for them with a show of completeness, and perhaps depict the process of their origin.

Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits[…], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.

"Well, there's her statement of her case, and according to her lights, it's a just one. She's got a slum-bred mind."

Picasso was one of the leading lights of the cubist movement.

Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France

I'm really seeing you in a different light today.

Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter.

Frequent consideration of a thing […] shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.

Thy ſteddy Temper, Portius, Can look on Guilt, Rebellion, Fraud, and Cæſar, In the calm Lights of mild Philoſophy; […]

Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say.

"There will, I expect, be many such - possibly whole cities in flames - when we consider how many folk may have dropped with lights in their hands."

Hey, buddy, you got a light?

a Bengal light

This facade has eight south-facing lights.

The average length of a light on a 15×15 grid is 7 or 8.

The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light.

My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eies, it also is gone from me.

He seemed to find his way without his eyes; / For out o'door he went without their helps, / And, to the last, bended their light on me.

We lit the fire to get some heat.

She lit her last match.

if a thousand candles be all lighted from one

I used my torch to light the way home through the woods in the night.

19th century', Frederic Harrison, The Fortnightly Review One hundred years ago, to have lit this theatre as brilliantly as it is now lighted would have cost, I suppose, fifty pounds.

The Sun has set, and Vesper, to supply / His absent beams, had lighted up the sky.

It was lighted by a couple of windows, one of which favoured an intimate inspection of two chimney pots, and a diagonal section of the Town Hall clock.

"Can I light you down to your cab?"

This soggy match will not light.

His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.

Light the extra ball by amassing 500 million points in the wizard mode.

The room is light when the Sun shines through the window.

Historic England explained the listing: "The station's unique design employs a high level of sophistication and innovation through its use of conoid shells supported on a cruck-like frame, which not only create a dramatic aesthetic form, but endow the building with a light and spacious interior."

She had light skin.

'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the Sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

I like my coffee light.

a light load ; a lighter backpack after having removed the books ; light weapons

These weights did not exert their natural gravity […] insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand.

feathers and cork are light ; oil is lighter than water

to issue light coin

a light aircraft ; a light tank

light infantry; a troop of light horse

if a ship is light or partially loaded ; the light draft of a vessel, or its light displacement

the light locomotives ; a locomotive may be moved light

On that August Thursday afternoon, there was little freight traffic; a large "K3" Mogul went down with a short, fast goods, and a W.D. 2-8-0 proceeded northward light.

a light bread ; sponge cake is a light cake

This light beer still gets you drunk if you have enough of it.

a light drizzle//a light rain was falling//a light snow set in

This artist clearly had a light, flowing touch.

light duties around the house

Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.

I made some light comment, and we moved on.

He had drunk more than was fit for him, and he was singing some light song, when he saw approaching, as he said, the pale horse mentioned in the Revelation, with Death seated as the rider.

Long after lay he musing at her mood, / Much grieu'd to thinke that gentle Dame so light, / For whose defence he was to shed his blood.

So do not you; for you are a light girl.

A light wife doth make a heavy husband.

Unmarried men are best friends, best masters […] but not always best subjects, for they are light to run away.

a light, vain person; a light mind

There is no greater argument of a light and inconsiderate person than profanely to scoff at religion.

Ogden Nash was a writer of light verse.

Seneca can not be too heavy, nor Plautus too light.

specimens of New England humour laboriously light and lamentably mirthful

Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?

light sleep; light anesthesia

I wish you a good day, and you'll find a way To make your spirits light & gay

I prefer to travel light.

We crossed to the pub on the corner of Carlisle Street and I ordered two schooners of old for him and one of light for me.

His mailèd habergeon she did undight, / And from his head his heavy burgonet did light.

I lit upon a rare book in a second-hand bookseller's.

"Sacredam!" he cried, when his eyes lit upon Buck. "Dat one dam bully dog! Eh? How moch?"

She fell out of the window but luckily lit on her feet.

[W]e knew not what Courſe to take, but the Creatures [wolves] reſolv'd us ſoon, for they gather'd about us preſently, in Hopes of Prey, […] I drew my little Troop in among thoſe Trees, and placing our ſelves in a Line, behind one long Tree, I advis'd them all to light, and keeping that Tree before us, for a Breaſt-Work, to ſtand in a Triangle, or three Fronts, encloſing our Horſes in the Center.

And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.

Some kinds of ducks in lighting strike the water with their tails first, and skitter along the surface for a few feet before settling down.

1957, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), The Cat in the Hat And our fish came down, too. He fell into a pot! He said, "Do I like this? Oh, no! I do not. This is not a good game," Said our fish as he lit.

One cannot help but notice a teasingly elusive air about her, as if she were a butterfly that refused to light and fluttered just out of reach of its would-be captor.