Light vs Mere - What's the difference?
light | mere |
(uncountable) The natural medium emanating from the Sun and other very hot sources (now recognised as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 400-750 nm), within which vision is possible.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=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,
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=3 * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= A source of illumination.
* , chapter=5
, title= Spiritual or mental illumination; enlightenment, useful information.
* Shakespeare
Facts; pieces of information; ideas, concepts.
* , Book I, New York 2001, page 166:
A notable person within a specific field or discipline.
* Tennyson
(painting) The manner in which the light strikes a picture; that part of a picture which represents those objects upon which the light is supposed to fall; the more illuminated part of a landscape or other scene; opposed to shade .
A point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.
* South
A flame or something used to create fire.
A firework made by filling a case with a substance which burns brilliantly with a white or coloured flame.
A window, or space for a window in architecture.
The series of squares reserved for the answer to a crossword clue.
(informal) A cross-light in a double acrostic or triple acrostic.
Open view; a visible state or condition; public observation; publicity.
* Shakespeare
The power of perception by vision.
* Bible, Psalms xxxviii. 10
The brightness of the eye or eyes.
* Shakespeare
A traffic light, or, by extension, an intersection controlled by one.
To start (a fire).
To set fire to; to set burning; to kindle.
* Hakewill
* Addison
To illuminate.
* F. Harrison
* Dryden
To become ignited; to take fire.
To attend or conduct with a light; to show the way to by means of a light.
* Landor
Having light.
Pale in colour.
*
, title= (of coffee) Served with extra milk or cream.
Of low weight; not heavy.
* Addison
Lightly-built; designed for speed or small loads.
(senseid)Gentle; having little force or momentum.
Easy to endure or perform.
* Dryden
Low in fat, calories, alcohol, salt, etc.
Unimportant, trivial, having little value or significance.
travelling with no carriages, wagons attached
(obsolete) Unchaste, wanton.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.i:
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
Not heavily armed; armed with light weapons.
Not encumbered; unembarrassed; clear of impediments; hence, active; nimble; swift.
* Francis Bacon
(dated) Easily influenced by trifling considerations; unsteady; unsettled; volatile.
* Tillotson
Indulging in, or inclined to, levity; lacking dignity or solemnity; frivolous; airy.
* Shakespeare
* Hawthorne
Not quite sound or normal; somewhat impaired or deranged; dizzy; giddy.
* Shakespeare
Not of the legal, standard, or usual weight; clipped; diminished.
Carrying little.
(nautical) To unload a ship, or to jettison material to make it lighter
To lighten; to ease of a burden; to take off.
* Spenser
To find by chance.
(archaic) To alight.
(obsolete) the sea
(dialectal, or, literary) a pool; a small lake or pond; marsh
* 1955 , William Golding, The Inheritors , Faber & Faber 2005, p. 194:
boundary, limit; a boundary-marker; boundary-line
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ix:
(obsolete) To limit; bound; divide or cause division in.
(obsolete) To set divisions and bounds.
(label) Pure, unalloyed .
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.8:
* , I.56:
(label) Nothing less than; complete, downright .
* , II.3.7:
Just, only; no more than , pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
*
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black)
, chapter=2, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
, author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title=
In obsolete terms the difference between light and mere
is that light is unchaste, wanton while mere is nothing less than; complete, downright .As nouns the difference between light and mere
is that light is the natural medium emanating from the Sun and other very hot sources (now recognised as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 400-750 nm), within which vision is possible while mere is the sea.As verbs the difference between light and mere
is that light is to start (a fire) while mere is to limit; bound; divide or cause division in.As adjectives the difference between light and mere
is that light is having light while mere is famous.As an adverb light
is carrying little.As a proper noun Light
is {{surname|lang=en}.light
English
Alternative forms
* lite (informal); lyght, lyghte (obsolete) * (l) (Scotland)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia light) (en noun)citation, passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light .}}
Out of the gloom, passage=[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.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=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.}}
- He shall never know / That I had any light of this from thee.
- Now these notions are twofold, actions or habits […], which are durable lights and notions, which we may use when we will.
- Joan of Arc, a light of ancient France
- Frequent consideration of a thing shows it in its several lights and various ways of appearance.
- a Bengal light
- The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light .
- My strength faileth me; as for the light of my eyes, 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.
Synonyms
* (electromagnetic wave perceived by the eye) visible lightDerived terms
* ancient lights * black light * booklight * bring to light * come to light * fanlight * footlight * gaslight * half-light * headlight * hide one's light under a bushel * lamplight * light at the end of the tunnel * light box, lightbox * light bucket * light globe * Light of the World * lightbulb * lighthouse * ! * moonlight * nightlight * searchlight * see the light * skylight * spotlight * strike a light * sunlight * twilight * Very light * white lightEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .Verb
- We lit the fire to get some heat.
- She lit her last match.
- if a thousand candles be all lighted from one
- Absence might cure it, or a second mistress / Light up another flame, and put out this.
- I used my torch to light the way home through the woods in the night.
- 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, has lighted up the sky.
- This soggy match will not light .
- His bishops lead him forth, and light him on.
Synonyms
* ignite, kindle, conflagrate * (illuminate) illuminate, light upAntonyms
* extinguish, put out, quenchDerived terms
* light someone's fire * light up * highlightEtymology 3
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) (m), (etyl) (m).Adjective
(er)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='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.}}
Synonyms
* (having light) bright * (pale in colour) pale * : white, with milk, with creamDerived terms
* light-haired * light-skinnedEtymology 4
From (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- My bag was much lighter once I had dropped off the books.
- 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.
- We took a light aircraft down to the city.
- This artist clearly had a light , flowing touch.
- light duties around the house
- Light sufferings give us leisure to complain.
- This light beer still gets you drunk if you have enough of it.
- I made some light comment, and we moved on.
- 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.
- light''' troops; a troop of '''light horse
- 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.
- 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 coin
Synonyms
* (of low weight) * (lightly-built) lightweight * (having little force or momentum) delicate, gentle, soft * lite, lo-cal (low in calories), low-alcohol (low in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) inconsequential, trivial, unimportantAntonyms
* (of low weight) heavy, weighty * (lightly-built) cumbersome, heavyweight, massive * (having little force or momentum) forceful, heavy, strong * calorific (high in calories), fatty (high in fat), strong (high in alcohol) * (having little value or significance) crucial, important, weightyDerived terms
* light as a feather * lightnessAdverb
(er)- I prefer to travel light.
Verb
(en verb)- His mailèd habergeon she did undight, / And from his head his heavy burgonet did light .
Derived terms
* lighterEtymology 5
(etyl)Verb
- I lit upon a rare book in a second-hand bookseller's.
- She fell out of the window but luckily lit on her feet.
Synonyms
* (find by chance) chance upon, come upon, find, happen upon, hit upon * (alight) alight, landDerived terms
* light into * light outmere
English
(wikipedia mere)Etymology 1
From (etyl) mere, from (etyl) .Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l)Noun
(en noun)- (Drayton)
- (Tennyson)
- Lok got to his feet and wandered along by the marshes towards the mere where Fa had disappeared.
Derived terms
* mereswine * mermaid * merman * merfolkEtymology 2
From (etyl), from (etyl) .Alternative forms
* (l), (l), (l), (l)Noun
(en noun)- The Troian Brute'' did first that Citie found, / And ''Hygate'' made the meare thereof by West, / And ''Ouert gate by North: that is the bound / Toward the land; two riuers bound the rest.
Verb
(mer)Etymology 3
From (etyl), from (etyl) .Alternative forms
* (l), (l)Etymology 4
From (etyl) meer, from (etyl) mier, from (etyl) merus. Perhaps influenced by (etyl) , or conflated with Etymology 3.Adjective
(er)- So oft as I this history record, / My heart doth melt with meere compassion.
- Meere .
- If every man might have what he wouldwe should have another chaos in an instant, a meer confusion.
- Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;.
Internal Combustion, passage=More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.}}
Pixels or Perish, passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}