▪ I. alighting, vbl. n.1
(əˈlaɪtɪŋ)
[f. alight v.1 + -ing1.]
a. The action of descending or dismounting; descent, landing.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 430 In þe..enleue hondered ȝer & seuene of our Lorde alyȝtyn. 1548 W. Thomas Ital. Dict., Scesa, the alightyng or commyng downe. 1631 Saltonstall Pict. Loq. E iij b, At your first alighting hee straight offers you to see a Chamber. 1704 Lond. Gaz. mmmmlii/1 At Her alighting out of the Coach. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. ii. 182, I..was drawn up by pulleys. At my alighting I was surrounded by a crowd of people. |
b. Aeronaut. = landing vbl. n. 1 d. Also attrib.
| 1909 V. Lougheed Vehicles of Air 466 Alighting gear, the under mechanism of an aeroplane, used to cushion its descent and to bring it to a stop as it reaches the ground. 1914 Aeronaut. Jrnl. XVIII. 315 Carriage, that part of the aircraft..intended..to absorb the shock of alighting. 1927 Flight 3 Feb. 54/1 Compulsory alightings must be made at the end of each seven laps. |
c. alighting-board: a board placed in or near a hen-house, bee-hive, or the like upon which hens, bees, etc., can alight.
| 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 61/2 It [sc. a bee] has measured every inch of the alighting-board, and now it flies off. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 June 435/1 Distraught bees run about on the alighting-board. 1950 New Zealand Jrnl. Agric. Nov. 446 The hinged alighting board [of the hen house] can be raised at night. |
▪ II. † aˈlighting, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. alight v.3 + -ing1.]
The action of setting a light to, or kindling; fig. an incentive.
| 1340 Ayenb. 221 To moche drinke and to moche ethe is grat aliȝtinge to þe uere of lecherie. |