Alit

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Came down from flying and settled on a surface or spot
2. Landed from flight and came to rest on a place or object
3. Descended through the air and alighted on a location or perch

Etymology: "Alit" is the past tense and past participle of "alight," used mainly in the sense "to have landed" or "to have come down from something." It is the form of "alight" that most readers meet in older writing, where it often appears in phrases like "the bird had alit on the branch." "Alight" comes from Old English "ālīhtan," a compound of "ā-," an intensifying prefix, and "līhtan," "to make light" or "to descend." The sense of coming down from above is the original one, and it fits the physical picture of a bird settling onto a perch. The more familiar "light" in "light on" or "lighted" shares the same root, so "alit" is essentially the same verb in its older, more literary dress.

Synonyms: landed, perched, descended

Antonyms: took off, departed