lighter
Syllables: light·er/ˈlaɪtə//ˈlaɪtɚ/
lighter noun: a person who lights things. Also the comparative form of light.
Noun (1)
lighter (plural lighters)
Noun (2)
lighter (plural lighters)
- A flat-bottomed boat for carrying heavy loads across short distances (especially for canals or for loading or unloading larger boats).
- It is, of course, possible to work only to or from lighters in this way, and such working is not very general in this country, although a certain amount of such overside work is carried on in enclosed docks.1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9
Verb
lighter (third-person singular simple present lighters, present participle lightering, simple past and past participle lightered)
- To transfer (cargo or passengers) to or from a ship by means of a lighter or other small vessel.
- 1900. Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain. Vol. 7, pg. 3227.
Troops and stores were lightered to the wharves inside the harbor by steamers Orizaba and Berkshire. - Beyond the station an extension descends at 1 in 30, the steepest gradient on the line, to Government Wharf, where cargo is lightered to and from ships at anchor in the harbour.1960 April, H. P. White, “The Railways of Sierra Leone”, in Railway Magazine, page 233
- 1900. Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain. Vol. 7, pg. 3227.
- To transfer cargo or fuel from (a ship), lightening it to make its draft less or to make it easier to refloat.
Also used as
lighter is also the comparative form of light.
lighter meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
lighter in Hindi
- fire-making device
- लाइटर lāiṭar
lighter in Urdu
- fire-making device
- لائِٹَر lāiṭar
lighter in Bengali
- fire-making device
- লাইটার laiṭar
lighter in Malayalam
- ലൈറ്റർ
More languagesFewer languages
- lighter in Gujarati
- લાઇટર
- lighter in Nepali
- लाइटर
- lighter in Pashto
- لایټر lāyṭar
- lighter in Tagalog
- pansindi
- lighter in Arabic
- قَدَّاحَة qaddāḥa, وَلَّاعَة wallāʕa
- lighter in Malay
- pemetik api
- lighter in Indonesian
- korek api gas, pemantik
- lighter in Thai
- ไฟแช็ก fai-chɛ́k
- lighter in Vietnamese
- bật lửa, hộp quẹt
- lighter in Myanmar
- ဓာတ်မီးခြစ် dhatmi:hkrac, မီးခြစ် mi:hkrac
Examples of lighter in a sentence
- Can I see that lighter for a second? Mine just quit working.
- The campfire was ready to go, so she burned it with her lighter.
- I tried mixing more white paint to get a lighter shade.
Synonyms of lighter
Forms of lighter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | lighters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | lighters |
| present participle | lightering |
| past participle | lightered |
| past | lightered |
Origin of lighter
From light (“to ignite”) + -er. Cognate with Middle Dutch lichtere, lichter (“one who spreads light, illuminator”), Dutch lichter, luchter (“candle-holder, chandelier”). Compare also Middle English lightnere, liȝtnere (“one who enlightens or illuminates”).
From Middle English lightere, lyghtere, equivalent to light (“to unload, lighten”) + -er. Compare West Frisian lichter (“lighter ship”), Dutch lichter (“lighter ship”), Middle Low German lichter, lüchter, lüchtære (“a small ship that lightens a load, lighter ship”).
From light (“pale”) + -er (“comparative”).
Words formed from lighter
Phrases with lighter
Words that rhyme with lighter
Questions about lighter
- What does lighter mean?
- Lighter means a person who lights things.
- What is lighter in Hindi?
- Lighter in Hindi is लाइटर (lāiṭar). See Lighter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is lighter?
- Lighter can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce lighter?
- Lighter is pronounced /ˈlaɪtɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of lighter?
- The plural of lighter is lighters.
Words near lighter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lighter (page history and authors); lighter (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lighter (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lighter (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-lighter.wav, En-uk-lighter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lighter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lighter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.