Verb

(archaic) To throw or spread light upon; to make light or bright; to illuminate; to illumine.

* c.1603 , Act I, Scene I.

Last night of all,

When yond same star that's westward from the pole

Had made his course to illume that part of heaven

Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,

The bell then beating one,--

* 1819 , Samuel Mcpherson Janney, The last of the Lenapé, and Other Poems'' - ''Electricity :

How dread the thunder's peal that rolls above !

How bright the flashes that illume the sky !

* 1915 , Alfred Emanuel Smith, New Outlook (vol. 109):

At night there is no light in this building, but searchlights from distant points illume the splendid dome and the colonnades.

Verb

(illuminat)

To shine light on something.

To decorate something with lights.

To clarify or make something understandable.

To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental designs.

(figurative) To make spectacular.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=June 2 , author= Phil McNulty , title=England 1-0 Belgium , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Hodgson's approach may not illuminate proceedings in Poland and Ukraine but early evidence suggests they will be tough to break down.}}

To glow; to light up.

* 1994 , Sylvia Carlson, ?Verne Carlson, Professional Cameraman's Handbook (ISBN 024080080X), page 494:

Red diode in button illuminates when camera runs at speed set in five-digit speed selector.

* 2011'/'''2012 , "Spectrum", written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth, performed by (Florence and the Machine), released on the album ''Ceremonials (2011):

Say my name / and every color illuminates. / We are shining /

To be exposed to light.

(military) To direct a (radar) beam toward.