light up

Definition

Verb (intransitive):
- To begin to smoke a cigarette, cigar, or pipe: To ignite a tobacco product and start smoking it.
- To become illuminated; to start to burn with a bright flame: To begin to emit light, often suddenly or brightly.
- To become bright or clear: For something, especially the sky or a person's face, to become bright or free of darkness or gloom.
Verb (transitive):
- To illuminate something; to make it lighter or brighter: To cause an area or object to be filled with light.
- To cause something to start burning: To ignite something so it produces a flame and light.

Usage Examples

Verb (intransitive):
- He sat down and lit up a cigar. (He began smoking a cigar.)
- The fireworks lit up the night sky. (The fireworks made the night sky bright.)
- Her face lit up when she heard the good news. (Her face became bright with happiness.)
Verb (transitive):
- Can you light up the room? It's too dark in here. (Can you illuminate the room?)
- She used a match to light up the candle. (She used a match to ignite the candle.)

Advanced Usage

"to light up with joy/excitement": To show sudden, strong positive emotion through one's expression.
- The children's eyes lit up with excitement at the sight of the presents.
"to light up a screen/scoreboard": In sports or entertainment, to perform brilliantly and become the focal point.
- The star player lit up the scoreboard with three goals in the first period.

Variants and Related Words

Light (verb): The base form, meaning to ignite or provide light.
Lighting (noun): The equipment or effect of providing light.
Enlighten (verb): To give intellectual or spiritual light to someone (figurative).
Delight (verb/noun): To please greatly; great pleasure. (Shares the "light" root in the sense of making bright/joyful).

Synonyms

Related Phrasal Verbs

Light upon/on: To find or think of something by chance.
- He lit upon an old photograph while cleaning the attic.
Light out: To leave quickly or suddenly. (Informal)
- When they heard the sirens, they lit out for the border.

Related Idioms

Light up like a Christmas tree: To become very brightly lit or to show extreme happiness.
- The control panel lit up like a Christmas tree when the power was restored.
The lights are on but nobody's home: Used to say someone is not thinking or is absent-minded. (This idiom uses "lights" metaphorically, not the phrasal verb "light up").

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