different between dight vs wight

English

Etymology

From Middle English dighten, dihten, (also dyten, from whence dite), from Old English dihtan, dihtian (“to set in order; dispose; arrange; appoint; direct; compose”), from Proto-Germanic *diht?n? (“to compose; invent”), of disputed origin. Possibly from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *d?kan? (“to arrange; create; perform”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ey?-, *d?ey??- (“to knead; shape; mold; build”), influenced by Latin dict?re; or perhaps from Latin dict?re (“to dictate”) itself. See dictate; and also parallel formations in German dichten, Dutch dichten, Swedish dikta.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /da?t/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [d??t]
• Rhymes: -a?t

Verb

dight (third-person singular simple present dights, present participle dighting, simple past and past participle dight or dighted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To deal with, handle.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To have sexual intercourse with.
   • 1387-1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Manciple's Prologue:

     Ne telleth nevere no man in youre lyf

     How that another man hath dight his wyf;

3. (obsolete, transitive) To dispose, put (in a given state or condition).
4. (obsolete, transitive) To compose, make.
   • 14^thc., Anonymous, The Chester Mystery Plays, Noah's Flood:

     Japhet's Wife: And I will gather chippes here / To make a fyer for you in feare, / And for to dighte your dinnere / Agayne you come in.

5. (archaic, transitive, of facial features) To be formed or composed (of).
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     […] nor is there found, in sea or on land, a sweeter or pleasanter of gifts than she; for she is prime in comeliness and seemlihead of face and symmetrical shape of perfect grace; her check is ruddy dight, her brow flower white, her teeth gem-bright, her eyes blackest black and whitest white, her hips of heavy weight, her waist slight and her favour exquisite.

6. (archaic, transitive) To furnish, equip.
7. (archaic, transitive) To dress, array; to adorn.
8. (archaic, transitive) To make ready, prepare.

Synonyms

• (to have sexual intercourse): bed, feague, lie with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
• (to furnish): apparel, fit out, kit out
• (to dress, array, adorn): clothe, don, put on; see also Thesaurus:clothe

Derived terms

• dighter
• adight
• bedight
• benedight
• misdight
• maledight
• overdight

Adjective

dight

1. (obsolete) Disposed; adorned.

Adverb

dight

1. (obsolete) Finely.

   Synonym: dightly

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English dighten, from Old English dihtan, from Proto-Germanic *diht?n?.

Verb

dight

1. adorned, dressed

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?t, IPA^(key): /wa?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Homophones: wite, white (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English wight, wi?t, from Old English wiht (“wight, person, creature, being, whit, thing, something, anything”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (“essence, object”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekti- (“cause, sake, thing”), from *wek?- (“to say, tell”). Cognate with Scots wicht (“creature, being, human”), Dutch wicht (“child, baby”), German Low German Wicht (“girl; wight”), German Wicht (“wretch, wight, little creature, scoundrel”), Norwegian Bokmål vette (“underground creature, gnome”), Swedish vätte (“underground creature, gnome”), Icelandic vættur (“imp, elf”). Doublet of whit.

Noun

wight (plural wights)

1. (archaic) A living creature, especially a human being.
   • Template:RQ:Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor
   • 1626, John Milton, On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough, verse vi

     Oh say me true if thou wert mortal wight
     And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.

   • c. 1872, a Knight's tour cryptotour poem, possibly by Howard Staunton, lines 1 and 2:

     "The man that hath no love of chess/Is truth to say a sorry wight."

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 532:

     […] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]

2. (paganism) A being of one of the Nine Worlds of Heathen belief, especially a nature spirit, elf or ancestor.
3. (poetic) A ghost, deity or other supernatural entity.
   • 1789, William Blake, A Dream, lines 14-16:

     But I saw a glow-worm near, / Who replied: ‘What wailing wight / Calls the watchman of the night?

   • 1869, William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon (translators), Grettis Saga: The Story of Grettir the Strong, F. S. Ellis, page 49:

     Everything in their way was kicked out of place, the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness; Grettir gave back before him for a long time, till at last it came to this, that he saw it would not do to hoard his strength any more; now neither spared the other, and they were brought to where the horse-bones were, and thereabout they wrestled long.

4. (fantasy) A wraith-like creature.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wight, from Old Norse vígt, neuter of vígr (“skilled in fighting, of age”), from Proto-Germanic *w?gaz (“fighting”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to fight”). Cognate with Old English w??.

Adjective

wight

1. (archaic, except in dialects) Brave, valorous, strong.
2. (Britain dialectal, obsolete) Strong; stout; active.

See also

• Isle of Wight

References

• “wight” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wiht

Alternative forms

• wighte, wygh?t, wi?t, wi?te, whi?t, whytt, whighte, wyght, why?t, wyt, wiht, wihht, whi?t, wei?tt, wy?t, wy?te, wyhte, wyte, wicht

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /?ixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

wight (plural wightes or wighten)

1. A creature, a being.
2. A person, a human being.
   • 1368-1372, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, line 579:

     "Worste of alle wightes."

   • 1379-1380, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame, line 1830-1831:

     "We ben shrewes, every wight,

     And han delyt in wikkednes."

3. A demon, monster
4. A small amount (of a quantity, length, distance or time); a whit.

Descendants

• English: wight, whit
• Scots: wicht

References

• “wight, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse vígt. See vígr (“ready to fight”).

Alternative forms

• wihte, wict, wi?ht, wy?te, wyght, why?t, wy?t, white, vight, wi?hte, weight, vit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wixt/, /wikt/

Adjective

wight (comparative wighter, superlative wightest)

1. brave, bold
2. powerful, strong, vigorous
3. quick, speedy

Descendants

• English: wight (obsolete or dialectal)

References

• “wight, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Adverb

wight

1. immediately
2. vigorously

References

• “wight, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.