Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
nightlight. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
nightlight, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
nightlight in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
nightlight you have here. The definition of the word
nightlight will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
nightlight, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
night + light
Pronunciation
Noun
nightlight (plural nightlights)
- a small, dim light or lamp left on overnight
1925, D. H. Lawrence, chapter XVIII, in Louis L. Martz, editor, Quetzalcoatl, New York: New Directions, published 1998, page 310:She had brought in with her the night-light that had been burning outside her door. She blew it out.
1974, Anne Sexton, “The Fury of Overshoes”, in The Complete Poems, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, published 1981, page 372:They made you give up / your nightlight / and your teddy / and your thumb.
- 1988, Joseph Brodsky, "Gorbunov and Gorchakov" Canto 13 in In Urania, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 165,
- Your light cannot drive off the dark from me— / not any more than night-lights by the bed / drive off my dreams.
- He put a small nightlight in the bathroom to find his way around in the dark.
- light that shines at night such as moonlight, starlight, etc.
1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, Part Six, Chapter III:The floor-cloth deadened his footsteps as he moved in that direction through the obscurity, which was broken only by the faintest reflected night-light from without.
1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:[…] the man held up two small objects faintly twinkling in the nightlight;
1980, William Trevor, chapter 4, in Other People's Worlds, Penguin, published 1982, page 79:Their made-up faces were garish in the night-light and as they walked they stared fixedly ahead, afraid to make a sideways glance in case it should be called soliciting.
Hypernyms
Translations
a small, dim light or lamp left on overnight