benighted

adj

1. (obsolete, poetic)Overtaken by night; especially of a traveller, etc.: caught out by oncoming night before reaching one's destination.

   “The Porter anſwered, This Man is in a Journey from the City of Deſtruction to Mount Zion, but being weary, and benighted, he asked me if he might lodge here to night; ſo I told him I would call for thee, who after diſcourſe had with him, mayeſt do as ſeemeth thee good, even according to the Law of the Houſe.”

   “The Moon (that roves like thee) ſhou'd fail, / The Stars benighted prove, / The Sun (that burns like me) ſhou'd ceaſe / To ſhine, ere thou to love?”

   “Where art thou, poor benighted Traveller! / The Stars will light thee; tho' the Moon ſhould fail. / Where art Thou, more benighted! more aſtray! / In Ways immoral? The Stars call thee back; / And, if obey'd their Counſel, ſet thee right.”

   “Slighting the petty need he showed, / He told of his benighted road; [...]”

   “I recollect well losing the goodwill of my old grandmother by allowing a benighted wagoner to light his lantern while her back was turned, […]”

2. (obsolete)Plunged into darkness.

   “Rob the Spheare of lines vnited, / Make a ſuddaine voide in nature: / Force the day to be benighted, / Reaue the cauſe of time and creature.”

   “Still we wait for thine Appearing, / Life and Joy thy Beams impart, / Chaſing all our Fears, and chearing / Ev'ry poor benighted Heart: [...]”

3. (figuratively)Lacking education or knowledge; unenlightened; also, lacking morality; immoral, unscrupulous.

   “[I]t would be difficult to name any writers who have contributed so much to promote the progress of civilization as "these illustrious authors—these friends of human nature—these kind instructers of human errors and frailties—these benevolent spirits, who held up the torch of science to a benighted world."”

   “Where art thou, poor benighted Traveller! / The Stars will light thee; tho' the Moon ſhould fail. / Where art Thou, more benighted! more aſtray! / In Ways immoral? The Stars call thee back; / And, if obey'd their Counſel, ſet thee right.”

   “A radiant morn of light and happineſs then dawned upon this benighted land, yielding the joyous earneſt of a future reſplendent day.”

   “[Y]et the recollection of the impressions which had been made upon his heart, through their instrumentality, inspired them with renewed zeal in their work, and led them to cry mightily unto the Lord that his great salvation might even yet appear to the benighted barbarians by whom they were surrounded.”

   “[T]o attend to the interests of the enslaved negro; to awaken the benighted Hottentot to a sense of truth; to convert Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Papists; [...] all these things had this woman to do, and for near fourscore years she fought her fight womanfully: [...]”

4. (figuratively, obsolete)Difficult to understand; abstruse, obscure.

   “[O]thers, held very good men, are at a dead ſtand, not knovving vvhat to doe or ſay; and are therefore called Seekers, looking for nevv Nuntio's from Chriſt, to aſſoil theſe benighted queſtions, and to give nevv Orders for nevv Churches.”

verb

1. (form-of, participle, past)simple past and past participle of benight