daylight
UK /ˈdeɪlaɪt/ · US /ˈdeɪˌlaɪt/ noun, verb
Forms daylights daylighting daylighted daylit day-light
- noun The natural light that is ambient in daytime, being mostly sunlight (both direct and indirect, on either sunny days or cloudy days). “In those days the entire factory was lit only by daylight and was closed at night.”
- noun A light source that simulates daylight.
- noun (countable, photometry) The intensity distribution of light over the visible spectrum generated by the Sun under various conditions or by other light sources intended to simulate natural daylight.
- noun The period of time between sunrise and sunset. “burning daylight”
- noun Daybreak. “We had only two hours to work before daylight.”
- noun Exposure to public scrutiny. “Budgeting a spy organization can't very well be done in daylight.”
- noun A clear, open space. “All small running backs instinctively run to daylight.”
- noun (countable, machinery) The space between platens on a press or similar machinery. “The minimum and maximum daylights on an injection molding machine determines the sizes of the items it can make.”
- verb To expose to daylight
- verb (architecture) To provide sources of natural illumination such as skylights or windows.
- verb To allow light in, as by opening drapes.
- verb (landscaping, civil engineering) To run a drainage pipe to an opening from which its contents can drain away naturally.
- verb (intransitive) To gain exposure to the open. “The seam of coal daylighted at a cliff by the river.”
- verb (intransitive) To moonlight (work a second, often illicit job) during the daytime.
Synonyms
sunlight sunshine daytime day daylength photoperiod sunrise dayspring dawn ass crack of dawn break break of dawn break of day butt crack of dawn cockcrow crack of dawn daybreak first light lauds solrise
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “daylight”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details