illumining

Verb

illumine (third-person singular simple present illumines, present participle illumining, simple past and past participle illumined)

1. (also, figuratively, literary, transitive) To shine light on (something).
   • Laſt night of al, when yonder ſtarre that's weſtward from the pole, had made his coarſe to illumine that part of heauen. Where now it burnes, Marcellus and myself, The bell then towling one.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell...
2. (also, figuratively, literary, transitive) To cause (something) to glow or shine with light.
   • And as the bright sun glorifies the sky, / So is her face illumined with her eye; […]1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, [verse 81]; republished as Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896...
3. (figuratively, literary, transitive) To enlighten (someone) spiritually; to induce (someone) to adopt, or believe in the truth of, a religion, religious tenet, etc.
   • Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect, didst thou call to me, my holy and divine teacher, thou Jesus Christ, who illuminedst the spirit world with a light, which was not of this world; […]1840, C[hristoph] C[hristian] Sturm, “February XXI. The World, the Mirror of Eternity.”, in Robert Huish, transl., Evening Devotions; or, The Worship of God in Spirit and in Truth for Every Day in...
4. (figuratively, literary, transitive) To cause (the eyes) to see.
5. (figuratively, literary, transitive) To cause (a person or their face) to show enlightenment, happiness, etc.
6. (figuratively, literary, rare, transitive) To enlighten (someone) intellectually.
   • What in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raiſe and ſupport; / That to the highth of this great Argument / I may aſſert th' Eternal Providence, / And juſtifie the wayes of God to men.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

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