BRIGHTEN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Brighten

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/brˈaɪtən/ Listen

verb

Brighten v. t. (past & past part. brightened; pres. part. brightening) (From Bright, a.)

To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.

To make illustrious, or more distinguished; to add luster or splendor to. "The present queen would brighten her character, if she would exert her authority to instill virtues into her people."

To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful; as, to brighten one's prospects. "An ecstasy, which mothers only feel, Plays round my heart and brightens all my sorrow."

To make acute or witty; to enliven.

Brighten v. i. To grow bright, or more bright; to become less dark or gloomy; to clear up; to become bright or cheerful. "And night shall brighten into day." "And, all his prospects brightening to the last, His heaven commences ere world be past."

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Etymology of 'Brighten'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Brighten" Quotes from Famous Books

... its arms, the leafy night hang over them resplendent with stars, its watches near by, the Southern lines reawaken in recovered strength, spring up and press forward exultantly to the awful issue, and the Sabbath dawn brighten into a faultless day with the ...

— Kincaid's Battery • George W. Cable

... is a sign that something is about to go wrong. Yet the farmer will not shoot him. The roughest poaching fellows who would torture a dog will not kill a robin; it is bad luck to have anything to do with it. Most people like to see fir boughs and holly brought into the house to brighten the dark days with their green, but the cottage children tell you that they must not bring a green fir branch indoors, because as it withers their parents will be taken ill and fade away. Indeed the labouring people seem in all their ways and speech to be different, survivals perhaps of a time ...

— Field and Hedgerow • Richard Jefferies

... of "The Spoon: Primitive, Egyptian, Roman, Mediaeval, and Modern." Speaking of these antique Egyptian specimens, he says,—"In these forms we have the turns of thought of old artists; nay, casts of the very thoughts themselves. We fancy we can almost see a Theban spoonmaker's face brighten up as the image of a new pattern crossed his mind; behold him sketch it on papyrus, and watch every movement of his chisel or graver as he gradually embodied the thought, and published it in one of the forms portrayed on these pages—securing an accession of customers and a corresponding ...

— Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places • Frederick William Fairholt

... acts, it appears that affairs began to brighten; for those Indians, after witnessing the kind treatment extended to them, and seeing that the Spaniards were more affable than they appeared on the outside, promised very fair reciprocity. The commander endeavored to ascertain their reason for refusing to the Spaniards ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIII, 1629-30 • Various

... Brinker! As soon as the scanty dinner had been cleared away that noon, she had arrayed herself in her holiday attire in honor of Saint Nicholas. It will brighten the children, she thought to herself, and she was not mistaken. This festival dress had been worn very seldom during the past ten years; before that time it had done good service and had flourished at many a dance and kermis, when she was ...

— Hans Brinker - or The Silver Skates • Mary Mapes Dodge

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