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backlight

[bak-lahyt]
noun
  1. Movies, Television. a light source placed behind an actor, object, or scene to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background.
verb (used with object), back·light·ed or back·lit, back·light·ing.
  1. to illuminate (something) from behind.

Origin of backlight

First recorded in 1950–55; back1 + light1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for back light

back light

noun
  1. light falling on a photographic or television subject from the rear
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012