An archaic or dialectal term for a small alit or lightness of landing; possibly variant of 'alit' meaning descended.
From Old English 'alihtan' meaning to descend from (from 'a-' + 'lihtan' to alight). This appears to be an obsolete variant or dialectal preservation of terms related to alighting or descent.
Many English words about 'landing' come from the idea of birds—'alighting' literally meant birds settling on branches. Middle English speakers had wonderfully specific vocabulary for the gentle act of something coming down.
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