BENIGHT

benight, bedim

(verb) make darker and difficult to perceive by sight

benight

(verb) envelop with social, intellectual, or moral darkness; “The benighted peoples of this area”

benight

(verb) overtake with darkness or night

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

benight (third-person singular simple present benights, present participle benighting, simple past and past participle benighted) (archaic, transitive)

(chiefly, in passive) To overtake (a traveller etc) with the darkness of night, especially before shelter is reached.

To darken; to shroud or obscure.

To plunge or be overwhelmed in moral or intellectual darkness.

Source: Wiktionary

Be*night", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Benighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Benighting.]

1. To involve in darkness; to shroud with the shades of night; to obscure. [Archaic] The clouds benight the sky. Garth.

2. To overtake with night or darkness, especially before the end of a day's journey or task. Some virgin, sure, . . . benighted in these woods. Milton.

3. To involve in moral darkness, or ignorance; to debar from intellectual light. Shall we to men benighted The lamp of life deny Heber.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition