headlight

[ hed-lahyt ]

/ ˈhɛdˌlaɪt /

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See synonyms for headlight on Thesaurus.com

noun

a light or lamp, usually equipped with a reflector, on the front of an automobile, locomotive, etc.

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Origin of headlight

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; head + light¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use headlight in a sentence

The streets are unlit; the drivers are blind to anything more than a few inches beyond their headlights.
A Shooting on a Tribal Land Uncovers Feds Running Wild|Caitlin Dickson|August 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
My headlights caught a lonely figure under the elevated train tracks.
Real Life Lazarus: When Patients Rise From the Dead|Sandeep Jauhar|August 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When the headlights of the car in which Kumar travels lights up one such abode he feels immediately guilty.
The Real India Revealed|Rafia Zakaria|August 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the distance, hugging a T-wall, two Humvees idled door-to-door with their headlights on.
How the Dead Come Home From Afghanistan|Nick Willard|May 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Doctorow famously said that writing a novel is like driving at night—you can see about as far as your headlights shine.
How I Write: Scott Spencer|Noah Charney|March 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At the first bend, the bright headlights illuminated a patch of snow along the ditch.
Ghost Beyond the Gate|Mildred A. Wirt
The hour seemed a night; then we saw the gleam of headlights, and an English voice called out.
The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 4, January 23, 1915|Various
This reflector is used in automobile lamps, headlights of locomotives, search-lights, etc.
Physics|Willis Eugene Tower
He took it to the light of the headlights, standing there in the resonant darkness of a street in a city of stone houses.
The Invaders|William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Night fell and the headlights glared ahead, and the staff car clanked and clanked and grumbled and roared on through the darkness.
The Invaders|William Fitzgerald Jenkins

British Dictionary definitions for headlight

headlight

headlamp

/ (ˈhɛdˌlaɪt) /

noun

a powerful light, equipped with a reflector and attached to the front of a motor vehicle, locomotive, etcSee also quartz-iodine lamp

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

headlight

Origin of headlight

Words related to headlight

How to use headlight in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for headlight

headlamp