lighter

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪtɚ/, [ˈlaɪɾɚ]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪtə/

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• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: light‧er

A lighter (sense 2)

From light (“to ignite”) +‎ -er. Cognate with Middle Dutch lichtere, lichter (“one who spreads light, illuminator”), Dutch lichter, luchter (“candle-holder, chandelier”). Compare also Middle English lightnere, liȝtnere (“one who enlightens or illuminates”).

lighter (plural lighters)

1. A person who lights things.

   a lighter of lamps

2. A device used to light things, especially a reusable handheld device for creating fire to light cigarettes.

   Synonym: (dated) briquet

   Cigarette in mouth, he clutched his pockets in search of a lighter.

From Middle English lightere, lyghtere, equivalent to light (“to unload, lighten”) +‎ -er. Compare West Frisian lichter (“lighter ship”), Dutch lichter (“lighter ship”), Middle Low German lichter, lüchter, lüchtære (“a small ship that lightens a load, lighter ship”).

lighter (plural lighters)

1. A flat-bottomed boat for carrying heavy loads across short distances (especially for canals or for loading or unloading larger boats).
   • 1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:

     It is, of course, possible to work only to or from lighters in this way, and such working is not very general in this country, although a certain amount of such overside work is carried on in enclosed docks.

lighter (third-person singular simple present lighters, present participle lightering, simple past and past participle lightered)

1. To transfer (cargo or passengers) to or from a ship by means of a lighter or other small vessel.
   • 1900. Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain. Vol. 7, pg. 3227.

     Troops and stores were lightered to the wharves inside the harbor by steamers Orizaba and Berkshire.

2. To transfer cargo or fuel from (a ship), lightening it to make its draft less or to make it easier to refloat.

light (“pale”) +‎ -er (“comparative”)

lighter

1. comparative form of light: more light

   I prefer a lighter shade of pink.

light (“not heavy, weak”) +‎ -er (“comparative”)

lighter

1. comparative form of light: more light

   What happened? You look 10 lbs. lighter!

   I wish I'd thrown a lighter punch; he's out cold.

   • 1964 May, “News and Comment: WR's new parcel traffic method”, in Modern Railways, page 300:

     It is lighter to handle and more manoeuvrable, and its three caged sides with web straps on the fourth prevent movement of the contents.

   • 2021 May 19, David Clough, “Swiss precision meets UK growth”, in RAIL, number 931, page 57:

     For example, lightweight construction and Jacobs bogies save weight, and a lighter train uses less power.

• relight

Unadapted borrowing from English lighter.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaiteɾ/ [ˈlai̯.t̪eɾ]
• Rhymes: -aiteɾ

lighter m (plural lighteres)

1. (Panama, Puerto Rico) lighter

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.