strike a light

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to suddenly understand or realize something

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

bỗng dưng hiểu hoặc nhận ra điều gì đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to produce a flame
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

It wasn't until I saw the map that I struck a light and figured out the shortcut.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “strike a light” mean?

to suddenly understand or realize something Literally: to produce a flame

Is “strike a light” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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