Definition of "lighten"

lighten¹

/ˈlaɪ.tən/

verb
third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened
1. (transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
  Quotations
  A Key of fire ran all along the shore,And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:
  1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis‎, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59
2. (intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
3. (intransitive, now rare) To flash lightning, to give off lightning.
  Quotations
  Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]
  c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595
  […] this dreadful night,That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roarsAs doth the lion.
  1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals)
  While we were in the Twins it began to thunder and lighten and pour with rain.
  1986, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries 1978-1987, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 182
4. (transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
  Quotations
  […] behold his eye,As bright as is the eagle’s, lightens forthControlling majesty:
  1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene 3]
5. To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
  Quotations
  O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day,Which setst the Eye without and Mind within,Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray,Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.
  1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof”, in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies‎, London: John Standish, page 10

lighten²

/ˈlaɪ.tən/

verb
third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened
1. (transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.
2. (transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.
3. (transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.
  Quotations
  They looked unto him, were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Psalms 34:5
4. (intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.
5. (intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.

lighten³

/ˈlaɪ.tən/

verb
third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened
1. To descend; to light.
  Quotations
  O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.
  Book of Common Prayer

Definition of "lighten"

lighten1

verb

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lighten2

verb

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lighten3

verb

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lighten¹

lighten²

lighten³