bright

Etymology 1

The adjective is derived from Middle English bright (“giving off much light; of colour or light: brilliant, intense; brightly lit; gleaming, shining; glorious, resplendent; of a person: beautiful, fair, rosy; wonderful; clear; of eyesight: keen; (figuratively) free from sin; enlightened”) [and other forms], from Old English bryht, breht (Northumbrian), a metathetic variant of byrht (Anglian), beorht (West Saxon), berht (“bright, clear”) [and other forms] from Proto-West Germanic *berht, from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (“to shine, to gleam, whiten”). The noun is derived from Middle English bright (“brightness, brilliance; daylight; light”), from bright (adjective): see above. The English word is cognate with Albanian bardhë (“white”), Dutch brecht (in personal names), Icelandic bjartur (“bright”), Lithuanian brekšta (“to dawn”), Middle Irish brafad (“blink of an eye”), Norwegian bjart (“bright, clear, shining”), Persian برازیدن (barâzidan, “to beautify; to befit”), Northern Luri بڵێز (bełız, “blaze”) Russian бре́зжить (brézžitʹ, “to dawn; to flicker faintly, glimmer; (figuratively) of a hope, thought, etc.: to begin to manifest, emerge”), Sanskrit भ्राजते (bhrājate), Scots bricht (“bright”), Welsh berth (“beautiful, fair, fine”) (obsolete).

adj

1. Emitting much light; visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, radiant.
   The sky was remarkably bright and blue on that beautiful summer day.
2. Of light: brilliant, intense.
   Could you please dim the light? It’s far too bright.
3. Of an object, surface, etc.: reflecting much light; having a high lustre; gleaming, shiny.
4. Of a place: not dark; well-lit.
5. Of climate or weather: not cloudy or gloomy; fair; also, of a period of time, the sky, etc.: characterized by much sunshine and good weather.
6. (figurative)
   1. Clearly apparent; conspicuous.
   2. Of a colour: not muted or pale; bold, brilliant, vivid.
      Her step was quick; her eye piercing, and of the brightest blue; […] 1838 May, L. M., “The West Fifty Years Since”, in T[homas] W[illis] White, editor, The Southern Literary Messenger: Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts, volume IV, number V, Richmond, Va.: T. W. White,[…], →OCLC, chapter II, page 308, column 1
   3. Of an object, surface, etc.: having vivid colour(s); colourful.
      The orange and blue walls of the sitting room were much brighter than the dull grey walls of the kitchen.
   4. Of a musical instrument, sound, or a voice: clearly audible; clear, resounding, and often high-pitched.
   5. Of a room or other place: having acoustic qualities that tend to cause much echoing or reverberation of sound, particularly at high frequencies.
   6. Of a scent or taste: not bland or mild; bold, sharp, strong.
   7. Of a substance: clear, transparent; also, pure, unadulterated; (specifically) of wine: free of suspended particles; not cloudy; fine.
      From […] the brighteſt Wines / He'd turn abhorrent. 1728, [James] Thomson, Spring: A Poem, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar and G[eorge] Strahan, →OCLC, page 10
   8. Glorious; illustrious.
      And 'twas the worſt, if not the only ſtain, / I'th' brighteſt Annals of a Female Reign. 1681, Charles Cotton, The Wonders of the Peake, London: […] Joanna Brome,[…], →OCLC, page 16
   9. In good spirits; happy, optimistic.
      I woke up today feeling so bright that I decided to have a little dance.
   10. Of the face or eyes, or a smile: showing happiness or hopefulness; cheerful, lively.
       Bright eyes / Burning like fire / Bright eyes / How can you close and fail? / How can the light that burned so brightly / Suddenly burn so pale? / Bright eyes 19 October 1978, Mike Batt (lyrics and music), “Bright Eyes”, in Fate for Breakfast, performed by Art Garfunkel, published 19 January 1979
   11. Of a person: lively, vivacious.
   12. Of a period of history or time: happy, prosperous, successful.
       She has a bright future ahead.
       Things are going great, and they're only getting better / I'm doing all right, getting good grades / The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades 1986, Pat MacDonald (lyrics and music), “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”, in Greetings from Timbuk3, performed by Timbuk3
   13. Of an opportunity or outlook: having a reasonable chance of success; favourable, good.
       If he trains hard, his chances of winning the competition are bright.
   14. Of conversation, writing, etc.: imaginative or sparkling with wit; clever, witty.
   15. Having a clear, quick intellect; intelligent.
       She’s very bright. She was able to solve the problem without my help.
       Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food. 3 August 2013, “Revenge of the nerds: An explosion of start-ups is changing finance for the better”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-08-03
   16. (archaic)
       1. Of the eyes: able to see clearly; of eyesight: keen, sharp.
       2. Manifest to the mind as light is to the eyes; clear, evident, plain.
   17. (music) Of a rhythm or tempo: lively, upbeat.
7. (metallurgy) Of a metal object or surface: lacking any protective coating or surface treatment for the prevention of corrosion.

noun

1. (archaic or literary)
   1. Brightness, glow.
   2. (figurative) Glory, splendour.
2. (chiefly in the plural) Something (especially a product intended for sale) that has vivid colours or a lustrous appearance.
3. A person with a naturalistic worldview with no mystical or supernatural elements.
   Brights constitute 60% of American scientists, and a stunning 93% of those scientists good enough to be elected to the elite National Academy of Sciences (equivalent to Fellows of the Royal Society) are brights. 20 June 2003, Richard Dawkins, “The future looks bright”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-03-22
   Many of us brights have devoted considerable time and energy at some point in our lives to looking at the arguments for and against the existence of God, and many brights continue to pursue these issues, hacking away vigorously at the arguments of believers as if they were trying to refute a rival scientific theory. But not I. 2006, Daniel C[lement] Dennett, “Breaking Which Spell?”, in Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, New York, N.Y.: Viking, part I (Opening Pandora’s Box), section 5 (Religion as a Natural Phenomenon), page 27
   [Richard] Dawkins has received appreciative letters from people who were formerly what he derisively calls "faith-heads" who have abandoned their delusions and come over to the side of the brights, the pleasant green pastures where clear-eyed, brave, bold, and supremely brainy atheists graze contentedly. 2008 April, David Aikman, “The Attack of the Four Horsemen”, in The Delusion of Disbelief: Why the New Atheism is a Threat to Your Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness, Carol Stream, Ill.: SaltRiver, Tyndale House Publishers, page 28
4. (painting) An artist's brush used in acrylic and oil painting with a long ferrule and a flat, somewhat tapering bristle head.

Etymology 2

From Middle English brighte (“brightly; (figuratively) brilliantly, lustrously; of colour: boldly, vividly; clearly, distinctly; of voice: loudly”) [and other forms], from Old English breohte, beorhte (West Saxon) [and other forms], ultimately from Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”); see further at etymology 1.

adv

1. (often literary) In a bright manner; brightly, glowingly, luminously, lustrously.
2. (figurative)
   1. Referring to colour: with bold or vivid colours; brightly, boldly, vividly.
   2. (archaic) Referring to sight, sound, understanding, etc.: clearly, distinctly; brightly.

Etymology 3

From Middle English brighten (“to illuminate; to become light, dawn; (figuratively) to cleanse, purify; to clarify, explain”) [and other forms], from Old English beorhtian (“to brighten, shine; to sound clearly or loudly”) [and other forms], probably from beorht (“bright, clear”, adjective) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). Later uses of the word are probably also derived from the adjective.

verb

1. (transitive) Often followed by up: to cast light on (someone or something); to brighten, to illuminate.
2. (transitive, figurative) Often followed by up: to cause (someone or something) to be bright (in various senses); to brighten; specifically, to make (someone or something) energetic, or happy and optimistic.
   Toward Mid-day he [the Sun] brighteth the Air into a chearful Saphir, and guildeth the Borders of the very Clouds with a coſtly limbus. 1686, J[ohn] Goad, “The Sun, the Great Light, Justly Admired.[…]”, in Astro-meteorologica, or, Aphorisms and Large Significant Discourses of the Natures and Influences of the Cœlestial Bodies;[…], 2nd edition, London: […] O[badiah] B[lagrave] and sold by John Sprint,[…], published 1699, →OCLC, book I, § 2, page 14
3. (intransitive, also figurative) Often followed by up: to become bright (in various senses); to brighten.
   Day brighteth at the smile o' her and yea, He hath aplanted full o' seed for harvesting by thy loving. 1915, Keith Ringkamp, editor, The Patience Worth Record, volume I, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, published 2008, page 238