Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The time each morning at which daylight first begins.
  • noun A first appearance; a beginning: synonym: beginning.
  • intransitive verb To begin to become light in the morning.
  • intransitive verb To begin to appear or develop; emerge.
  • intransitive verb To begin to be perceived or understood.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To become day; begin to grow light in the morning; grow light: as, the morning dawns.
  • To begin to open or expand; begin to show intellectual light or power: as, his genius dawned.
  • To begin to become visible in consequence of an increase of light or enlightenment, literally or figuratively; begin to open or appear: as, the truth dawns upon him.
  • noun The first appearance of daylight in the morning.
  • noun First opening or expansion; beginning; rise; first appearance: as, the dawn of intellect; the dawn of a new era.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The break of day; the first appearance of light in the morning; show of approaching sunrise.
  • noun First opening or expansion; first appearance; beginning; rise.
  • intransitive verb To begin to grow light in the morning; to grow light; to break, or begin to appear
  • intransitive verb To began to give promise; to begin to appear or to expand.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To begin to brighten with daylight.
  • verb intransitive To start to appear or be realized.
  • noun uncountable The morning twilight period immediately before sunrise.
  • noun countable The rising of the sun.
  • noun uncountable The time when the sun rises.
  • noun uncountable The beginning.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the first light of day
  • verb appear or develop
  • noun the earliest period
  • noun an opening time period
  • verb become light
  • verb become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English daunen, to dawn, probably a back-formation from dauning, daybreak, alteration of dauing, from Old English dagung, from dagian, to dawn; see agh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Back-formation from dawning. Ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *dagaz, ‘day’.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word dawn.

Examples

  • XD my younger sister and i are gonna pick her up straight after school. this time we're gonna brave all obstacles, no matter what, to get to the airport hehe. thank goodness chem mock is during sch hours. speaking of which i havent studied anything.sigh. good luck to me. and i think a math was hard. at least i managed to do erm a few questions? couldnt prove the identity haha and all us sec fours are gonna get it from charissa on thurs. - _ - i'd better get prepared. (bring earmuffs) i think i told the whole world that i groped dawn (not physically!) * gropes dawn* = D oh yeah dawn!

    tamale-loco Diary Entry tamale-loco 2004

  • The only thing that seems to be a similar variant is the word dawn.

    The Darkest Edge of Dawn Kelly Gay 2010

  • The only thing that seems to be a similar variant is the word dawn.

    The Darkest Edge of Dawn Kelly Gay 2010

  • The only thing that seems to be a similar variant is the word dawn.

    The Darkest Edge of Dawn Kelly Gay 2010

  • Half a foot of overnight snowfall that stops with the dawn is about perfect, guaranteeing that any tracks you cross will be fresh and the snow underfoot will be silent.

    The Deer Tracker's Handbook 2003

  • We have been passing through a hard season, but the dawn is here.

    Canada's Widening Horizon 1930

  • Print Fall from grace for Maldives' democratic crusader Mohamed Nasheed was elected in 2008 on a platform of democracy and change Just over three years ago, supporters of then President Mohamed Nasheed lined up along the seawall in the capital, Male, waving flags to usher in what they called the "dawn of democracy".

    BBC News - Home 2012

  • In the shivery gray of mountain dawn, Stubener was routed from his blankets by old Pat.

    Chapter II 2010

  • Soon dawn is opening the curtains of night and he drives off leaving me lost in the smoky night music still at play in the room.

    jackie langetieg | jazz « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground 2010

  • Soon dawn is opening the curtains of night and he drives off leaving me lost in the smoky night music still at play in the room.

    June « 2010 « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground 2010

  • Its four 3-metre-long antennas, arranged in a cross shape, will attempt to measure the ‘cosmic dawn’, a feature thought to be detectable in the radio spectrum that would reveal the appearance of the Universe’s very first stars.

    Are telescopes on the Moon doomed before they’ve even been built? Davide Castelvecchi 2023

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • I remember hearing once that the noun form of dawn was first used by Shakespeare in one of his plays. I can't find any information online that would directly supports this. I can only find indirect support with Online Etymology stating that the noun version was first recorded in 1599. Does anyone else know anything about this?

    September 4, 2008

  • Henry V, IV, I has:

    ...Not all these, laid in bed majestical,

    Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,

    Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind

    Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread;

    Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,

    But, like a lackey, from the rise to set

    Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night

    Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,

    Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,

    And follows so the ever-running year,

    With profitable labour, to his grave...

    September 4, 2008

  • OED2 gives the Shakespeare quotation from 1599 as its earliest example for the noun; the verb is recorded from 1499. "Dawning" as a noun dates to 1297 and comes from "dawing" recorded circa 900.

    September 4, 2008

  • See awake.

    September 14, 2008

  • The soul at dawn is like darkened water

    that slowly begins to say Thank you, thank you.

    - Rumi, 'I was dead, then Alive', translation by Coleman Banks.

    December 13, 2008

  • Henry V, Act 4, Scene 1:

    "next day after dawn, / Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse."

    September 2, 2009

  • Just encountered a transitive use of the verb 'dawn', namely:

    "Artificial intelligence dawns its history back to the ancient times of the human being."

    http://www.learning-mind.com/the-dawn-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-modern-world/'>From: http://www.learning-mind.com/the-dawn-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-modern-world/

    June 27, 2014

  • This usage barfs me.

    June 27, 2014

  • The transitive dawn is recently birthed.

    (Or should I say, just now unearthed?)

    But unless it is pruned

    It will soon be nooned.

    We'll be with that weed forever cursed.

    June 27, 2014