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To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful; as, to brighten one's prospects. An ecstasy, which mothers only feel, Plays round my heart and brightens all my sorrow. Philips.

A separate, private, or obscure street; an out of the way or cross street. He seeks by-streets, and saves the expensive coach. Gay.

An obscure road; a way turning from the main road. Sir P. Sidney.

A private path; an obscure way; indirect means. God known, my son, By what bypaths, and indirect crooked ways, I met this crown. Shak.

A private or obscure road. "Through slippery byroads" Swift.

A secluded, private, or obscure way; a path or road aside from the main one. " Take no byways." Herbert.

Affected with darkness or dimness; dark; obscure. [R.] Blount. The caliginous regions of the air. Hallywell. -- Ca*lig"i*nous*ly, adv. -- Ca*lig"i*nous*ness, n.

The conversion of obscure radiant heat info kight; the transmutation of rays of heat into others of higher refrangibility. Tyndall.

To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with latticework. [Obs.] A little obscure place canceled in with iron work is the pillar or stump at which . . . our Savior was scourged. Evelyn.

Mean or unfair artifice to perplex a cause and obscure the truth; stratagem; sharp practice; sophistry. Irritated by perpetual chicanery. Hallam.

ter loud sounds or outcries; to vociferate; to complain; to make importunate demands. The obscure bird Clamored the livelong night. Shak.

at which has a dark, lowering, or threatening aspect; that which temporarily overshadows, obscures, or depresses; as, a cloud of sorrow; a cloud of war; a cloud upon the intellect.

In a cloudy manner; darkly; obscurely. Dryden.

Overcast or obscured with clouds; clouded; as, a cloudy sky.

So near the sun as to be obscured or eclipsed by his light, as the moon or planets when not more than eight degrees and a half from the sun. [Obs.] Planets that are oft combust. Milton.

An obscure ecclesiastical council; a conciliable. Milman.

ate; to abridge; to epitomize. In what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure. Milton. The secret course pursued at Brussels and at Madrid may be condensed into the usual formula, dissimulation, procrastination, and again dissimulation. Motley.

things can not be distinguished; to jumble together; to confound; to render indistinct or obscure; as, to confuse accounts; to confuse one's vision.

Confusedly; obscurely. [Obs.]

any situation; to appease or quiet; to gratify; to please. Do not content yourselves with obscure and confused ideas, where clearer are to be attained. I. Watts. Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them. Mark xv. 15.