lit

Illuminated.

Adjective

  1. Illuminated.
    • He walked down the lit corridor.

    Synonyms: lighted luminous alight illuminated inlighted lighty lit lit up aglow beamful beamsome beamy brilliant effulgent glowing illuminating lambent lucent luciferous lucific luminant luminiferous lustrous orient

  2. Drunk, intoxicated; under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
    • True to my word last night, I got very lit. - 1932, Hart Crane, letter, 16 February

    Synonyms: stoned baked blazed blitzed blown chemically impaired chopped cut drugged drugged-out fuckered up fried gassed geeked high high as a kite hepped up hopped up monged munted trolleyed toasted lifted lit

  3. Sexually aroused, (especially) visibly so.

    Synonyms: ablaze amorous aroused buckish concupiscent corny desirous drippy DTF excited flustered frisky fuckish gagging for it horny hot hot and bothered hot to trot impure in heat lascivious lewd libidinous lickerish

  4. Exciting, captivating; fun.
    • This party is gonna be lit.
    • DJ sets so lit the dance floor's dripping with sweat? - 2017 November, Justin Allec, Adrian Lysenko, Kirsti Salmi, “Sounds of the City: Part VI”, in The Walleye, page 8:
    • If indie punk, pop-punk, post-punk, and emo happen to be your bag, this early-week show at Paper Tiger is gonna be lit. - 2018 July 4, James Courtney, “Music Picks”, in San Antonio Current, page 39:
  5. Excellent, fantastic; cool.
    • Those jeans are lit.
    • […] will keep your feet looking lit this summer thanks to the Trainer Exchange. - 2017 June 8, “Out with the old, in with the new”, in Dundrum Gazette, page 18:
    • At his Upper East Side office, the talented doctor has a very lit and elegant office, where art canvasses the walls. - 2019, "Top 10 Plastic Surgeons in Manhattan", Art Bodega Magazine, December/January 2019

    Synonyms: ace admirable amazing awe-inspiring awesome badass bang on bang-up studly based beatific beneship bitching blissful bomb brilliant bully celestial cher choice chronic chur cock on commendable

Origin

Alteration of earlier light, from Middle English lighte, from Old English līhtte, first and third person singular preterite of līhtan (“to light”), by analogy with bit. More at light; compare fit (“fought”). This form was proscribed during the 18th and 19th centuries, with lighted being preferred, but is now the most common past form of light.

Forms

more lit most lit

Derived

backlit candlelit dim-lit earthlit fairy-lit firelit gaslit gas-lit half lit headlit illlit ill-lit lamplit litty lit up matchlit moonlit moon-lit oil-lit skylit snowlit starlit strip-lit sunlit

Adjective obsolete

  1. Little.

Origin

From Middle English lit, lut, from Old English lȳt (“little, few”), from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“little, small”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to cower, hunch over”). Cognate with Old Saxon lut (“little”), Middle High German lützen (“to make small or low, decrease”). More at little.

Forms

litter more lit littest most lit

Noun obsolete, uncountable

  1. Little.

Related

lite

Noun UK, dialectal

  1. Colour; blee; dye; stain.

Origin

From Middle English lit, from Old Norse litr (“colour, dye, complexion, face, countenance”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlitaz (“sight, face”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”). Cognate with Icelandic litur (“colour”), Old English wlite (“brightness, appearance, form, aspect, look, countenance, beauty, splendor, adornment”), Old English wlītan (“to gaze, look, observe”).

Derived

lithouse lit-house litmus

Noun abbreviation, alt of

  1. Clipping of literature.
    • Do we have any lit homework tonight?

Origin

Short for literature.

Related

wagon-lit

Derived

alt-lit chick lit comput lit cyberlit dick lit frat lit grip-lit kidlit lab lit lad lit ladlit litblog lit crit litfan litfic lit flick litRPG lit-verse litzine misery lit mis lit poplit quit lit sick lit

Verb form of, participle

  1. simple past and past participle of light (“illuminate; start a fire; etc”)
  2. simple past and past participle of light (“alight: land, come down on”)
    • […] but finally [the bird] came to the tree and, after edging along falteringly, lit on a branch above them. - 1896, Florence Merriam Bailey, A-birding on a Bronco, page 87:

Verb US, dialectal

  1. To run or light (alight).
    • With that the kid lits off down the street, and, what do you know! - 1988 April 8, Grant Pick, “Johnny Washington's Life”, in Chicago Reader:

Forms

lits litting litted

Verb Entry 8

  1. To colour; dye.

Origin

From Middle English litten, liten, from Old Norse lita (“to colour”), from litr (“colour”). See above.

Forms

lits litting litted