blighty

[ blahy-tee ]

/ ˈblaɪ ti /

noun, plural blight·ies. British Slang.

(often initial capital letter) England as one's native land; England as home: We're sailing for old Blighty tomorrow.

a wound or furlough permitting a soldier to be sent back to England from the front.

military leave.

RELATED WORDS

Albion, Britain, Britannia, England, UK

Nearby words

Origin of blighty

1885–90; < Hindi bilāyatī the country (i.e., Great Britain), variant of wilāyatī vilayet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for blighty

We reckon Harry will allow himself a glass of something bubbly on the plane back to Blighty this evening.
Prince Harry's U.S. Tour: Rolling Updates and all the News and Pictures as It Happens|Tom Sykes|May 15, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Queen Beatrix may be ready to pack up and go, but here in Blighty, like it or not, our Kings and Queens have a job for life.
Queen Beatrix May Have Abdicated, But Queen Elizabeth Never Will, Insiders Say|Tom Sykes|January 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It more likely means you are a working class lad from Blighty.
'T-Rex' Will Never Be Extinct|Simon Doonan|August 13, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Men's leave was now going well and frequent parties left Acheux Station for 'Blighty.'
The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry|G. K. Rose

He was very cheery, and continued to assert that we should all be in "Blighty" in a day or two's time.
Attack|Edward G. D. Liveing
I have known a man carried into an aid-post in a state of great delight because he had 'got a Blighty one.'
On the King's Service|Innes Logan
Most fellows realize fully that it may be their last look at Blighty, and they take it rather solemnly.
A Yankee in the Trenches|R. Derby Holmes
The revolving wheels underneath you seem to sing the words, "Off to Blighty—to Blighty."
The Glory of the Trenches|Coningsby Dawson

British Dictionary definitions for blighty

blighty

blighty bird

/ (ˈblaɪtɪ) /

noun

NZ another name for white-eye

Blighty

/ (ˈblaɪtɪ) /

noun (sometimes not capital) British slang (used esp by troops serving abroad)

England; home

(esp in World War I)

Also called: a blighty one a slight wound that causes the recipient to be sent home to England
leave in England

Word Origin for Blighty

C20: from Hindi bilāyatī foreign land, England, from Arabic wilāyat country, from waliya he rules

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