"light bulbs began to go off"

Sat Jan 29 22:59:31 UTC 2005

On Jan 29, 2005, at 11:34 AM, AAllan at AOL.COM wrote:

> I noted this expression in the comment of a Boston doctor on NPR's
> Morning
> Edition January 19, meaning that a bright idea came along. But lights
> going off
> (as opposed to on) doesn't make sense to me.

isn't this just the 'become active/activated' sense of "go off"?
admittedly, for light bulbs we have two senses in conflict, but that's
not so incredibly rare.

arnold