Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To convey or transport in or as in a lighter, as goods or cargo.
  • To be employed in the business of transporting goods by means of a lighter.
  • noun A boat or vessel, commonly an open flat-bottomed barge, but sometimes decked, used in lightening or unloading and also in loading ships, and for receiving and transporting for short distances passengers or goods, or materials of any kind, usually in a harbor.
  • noun Same as lafter.
  • noun One who or that which lights or illuminates; specifically, a torch or an electric device for lighting candles or gasjets. A simple form of lighter is a strip of paper rolled into a tapering tube.
  • noun plural Blinkers for a horse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, lights.
  • noun A small portable device which produces a flame when a button is pushed, carried on the person to allow one to light cigarettes conveniently, and taking the place of a match. It may have a reservoir of liquid fuel conveyed by a wick, or may contain compressed butane as the fuel.
  • transitive verb To convey by a lighter, as to or from the shore.
  • noun (Naut.) A large boat or barge, mainly used in unloading or loading vessels which can not reach the wharves at the place of shipment or delivery.
  • noun (Mach.) a screw for adjusting the distance between the stones in a grinding mill by raising or lowering the bridgetree.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective comparative form of light: more light
  • noun A small, reusable, handheld device for creating fire, especially for lighting cigarettes.
  • noun A flat-bottomed boat for carrying heavy loads across short distances (especially for canals or for loading or unloading larger boats).
  • verb To transfer cargo or fuel from a ship, lightening it to make its draft less or to make it easier to refloat.
  • adjective comparative form of light: more light

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads (especially on canals)
  • noun a substance used to ignite or kindle a fire
  • verb transport in a flatbottom boat
  • noun a device for lighting or igniting fuel or charges or fires

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See light ("pale") + -er ("comparative")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See light ("ignite") + -er ("agent")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See light ("unload, lighten") + -er ("agent")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See light ("not heavy, weak") + -er ("comparative")

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Examples

Comments

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  • "... is a large open flat-bottomed vessel, generally managed with oars, and employed to carry goods to or from a ship when she is to be laden with, or delivered of, her stores, &c.

    "Ballast lighter, a vessel fitted up to heave ballast from the bottom of a harbour or river, and to carry it to and from ships.

    "Covered or close lighter, is furnished with a deck throughout her whole length, in order to contain those merchandises which would be damaged by rainy weather, as also to prevent pillage."

    Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 228

    October 11, 2008