Adj. (old).—Wanton. Hence, light-given (Burton, Anat.) = lewd of habit;
light-heeled (q.v.); light-o’-love (q.v.); light-skirts, (q.v.); and so
forth.
1538. Elyot, Dictionary, s.v. Meretrix, An harlot, a brothel, an
hoore, a strompet, a light housewyfe.
1567. Edwards, Damon & Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 50].
Believe her not, she is a light goddess; she can laugh and low’r.
1594. Barnfield, Hellen’s Rape or a Light Lanthorne for Light
Ladies (ed. Arber), p. 38, in title.
1594. Nashe, Dido, Queen of Carthage [Grosart (1885), vi. 33]. I
feare me, Dido hath been counted light, In being too familiar with
Iarbas.
1598. Shakspeare, Second Henry IV, i. 1. He hath the horn of
abundance, and the lightness of his wife shines through it. Idem,
i. 2. Not so, my lord; your ill angel is light.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Femina red monate, A bad light
woman.
1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley, Old Plays, iv. 367]. Hark
ye, maid, if [a] maid, are ye so light, That you can see to wander
in the night?
1621. Burton, Anatomy (ed. 1893), i. 479. I write not this to
patronize any wanton idle flirt, lascivious or light housewives,
which are too forward many times.
1669. Davenant, Man’s the Master, iv. i. I’m a very light hus-wife.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1694. Crowne, Married Beau, i. 1. Here’s my wife! see! she is no
light piece.
1855. Browning, Men and Women, Vol. i. A ‘light Woman’ (Title).
To put out one’s light, verb. phr. (common).—To kill. Also see subs.,
sense 1.
1602. Shakspeare, Othello, v. 2. Yet she must die, else she’ll
betray more men. Put out the light, and then—Put out the light?
1619. Beaumont and Fletcher, Maid’s Tragedy, iv. 1. Evad. You will
not murder me? Mel. No; ’tis a justice, and a noble one, To put the
light out of such base offenders.
1868. Temple Bar, xxiv. 539. Hocussing is putting a chap to sleep
with chloroform, and bellowing is putting his light out.
1884. Graphic, 27 Sept., p. 315, col. 2. So now, the malefactor
does not murder, he ‘pops a man off’, or puts his light out.
1891. Morning Advertizer, 3 April. The prisoners called him a
‘blackleg,’ and a O’Connor said if he went to work again he would
put his light out.
1891. Star, 10 Feb., p. 3, col. 6. He had been heard to say, ‘I
should like to put her light out,’ and had fired at her bed-room
window.
To hold a light (or candle) to the devil. See devil.
To light the lumper. See Lumper.
To light out, verb. phr. (American).—See quot. 1882.
1882. Notes and Queries, 6 S.v. 65. ‘Words & Phrases in Use in the
Far West.’ Light out, same as ‘Skin out’.... To leave secretly and
hastily as when pursued by an enemy.
1884. M. Twain, Huckleberry Finn, ch. i. p. 2. So when I couldn’t
stand it no longer, I lit out.
1890. Gunter, Miss Nobody, p. 34. Light out as if hell were behind
you.
1890. Scribner’s Magazine, Feb., p. 493. I want to jes turn in And
take and light right out o’ here and get back West ag’in.
Light-blue, subs. (old).—Gin. For synonyms see Drinks and Satin.
1820. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy.... Never again I’ll
cultivate light-blue or brown inebriety.
1822. Randall’s Scrapbook.... My brain-box is airy with Deady’s
light-blue.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.
Light-bob, subs. (military).—1. A light infantry soldier. For synonyms
see Mud-crusher.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxiv. Mr. Stubble, as may be supposed
from his size and slenderness, was of the light-bobs.
1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, xi. ‘A light-bob on each
side, with his arms sloped.’
1870. Daily Telegraph, 27 Sept. ‘On the Superior Education of the
German Soldier.’ It was true that the German light-bob was an
assistant judge in the Berlin Court.