lights, n. pl.
(laɪts)
Forms: 2–3 lihte, 4 liȝtes, 4–6 lightes, -is, -ys, 6 lyght(e)s, Sc. lichtis, lychtis, -es, 6– lites, 6– lights.
[Subst. use of light a.1
The word lung has the same etymological meaning, the lungs being distinguished from the other internal parts by their lightness.]
a. The lungs. Now only applied to the lungs of beasts (sheep, pigs, bullocks), used as food (chiefly for cats and dogs).
| ? a 1200 Homily in Phillipps Fragm. ælfric's Gramm., &c. (1838) 6 Þine þermes..lifre & þine lihte. c 1205 Lay. 6499 Þat deor..ræsde o þene stede, and for-bat him þa breste..þat þa lihte [c 1275 longene] and þa liuere feollen on eorðen. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 498 Þe left schulder ȝaf he, Wiþ hert, liuer and liȝtes And blod tille his quirre. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10705 With a big arow he Rut þurgh his rybbes..Betwene the lyuer & the lightes launchit hym þurghe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxxi. 131 Then wofully sich wightys Shall gnawe thise gay knyghtys, Thare lunges and thare lightys. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. xi. 80 So deip the grundin steyll heyd owt of sycht is, Ful hait and warm it festnyt in his lychtis. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xli. 711 Bitter Almondes doo open the stopping of the lunges or lightes. 1596 Spenser F. Q. vi. iii. 26 As if his lungs and lites were nigh asunder brast. 1665 Wood Life 12 May, The lights of a bullock or yong oxe. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. i. xliii. 94 The Difficulty of Breathing shews the Lights [to be affected]. 1797 Lond. Art Cookery 133 To dress a Calf's Pluck. Boil the lights and part of the liver. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xli, It is a piece of lights reserved for the dinner of the cat to-morrow. 1873 E. Smith Foods 79 The lungs, or as they are vulgarly termed lights, are eaten as a part of the pluck or fry. 1963 B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Cat Owner's Encycl. 69 Lungs (commonly known as ‘lites’), whether of cow, sheep or horses, are strongly to be recommended. |
b. Colloq. phr. to scare the (liver and) lights out of (someone): to scare (someone) greatly.
| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxix. 307 It most scared the liver and lights out of me. 1956 E. Pound tr. Sophocles' Women of Trachis 18 You might start by questioning Likhas, scare the lights out of him, and he might tell you. |