Definitions

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

  • noun The light of day; sunlight.
  • noun Dawn.
  • noun Daytime.
  • noun Exposure to public notice.
  • noun Understanding or insight into what was formerly obscure.
  • noun Sports An opening, as between defensive players, especially one providing an opportunity for action.
  • noun Slang One's wits.
  • idiom (see daylight) To make sufficient progress so that completion of a project seems possible.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The light of day; the direct light of the sun, as distinguished from night and twilight, or from artificial light.
  • noun Daytime as opposed to night-time; the time when the light of day appears; early morning.
  • noun The space left in a wine-glass between the liquor and the brim, and not allowed when bumpers are drunk, the toast-master calling out, “No daylights!”
  • noun plural The eyes.
  • noun A name of the American spotted turbot, Lophopsetta maculata, a fish so thin as to be almost transparent, whence the name. Also called window-pane.

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

  • noun The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
  • noun Prov. Eng. The eyes.

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

  • noun The light from the Sun, as opposed to that from any other source.
  • 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.
  • noun Daybreak.
  • noun Exposure to public scrutiny.
  • noun A clear, open space.
  • noun countable, machinery The space between platens on a press or similar machinery.
  • noun idiomatic Emotional or psychological distance between people, or disagreement.
  • 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 drawing 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.

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

  • noun light during the daytime
  • noun the time after sunrise and before sunset while it is light outside

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From day + light

Support

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

Examples

  • The phrase "daylight robbery" is said to have emanated from this period.

    Windows could be boarded up as tenants try to avoid benefits penalties 2011

  • TBTAM said ... socks - Totally agree wy they can't make laptop screens visible in daylight is beyond me.

    I Love Technology! aka TBTAM 2007

  • To fly with such a burden in daylight is simply to court disaster.

    Development of Aircraft in War 1918

  • In northern climates in the winter before the twentieth century people lived between the nocturnal dark and a dismal grey half-light which they called daylight, not seeing the sun often for weeks together.

    The Shape of Things to Come Herbert George 2006

  • But when the best of the daylight is a dull gray, the long lines of the glen unbroken by anything but a shepherd's hut here and there at long intervals, and the road that could be seen winding through like a strip of ribbon all the way gave the fugitive a mingled sense of serenity and of that tingling, audible solitude and remoteness from all living aid or society which thrills every nerve.

    Kirsteen: The Story of a Scotch Family Seventy Years Ago Margaret 1891

  • For him the abstract lived in the concrete, and the hidden motive of all he did was to bring what he called the daylight view of the world into ever greater evidence, that daylight view being this, that the whole universe in its different spans and wave-lengths, exclusions and envelopments, is everywhere alive and conscious.

    A Pluralistic Universe Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy William James 1876

  • The Syrian government charged that eight civilians, including four children, died in what it described as a daylight attack on al Sukkari farm in eastern Syria by U.S. forces that flew across the border from Iraq in four helicopters.

    THE AIR FORCE PUNDIT 2008

  • The Syrian government charged that eight civilians, including four children, died in what it described as a daylight attack on an al-Sukkari farm in eastern Syria by U.S. forces that flew across the border from Iraq in four helicopters.

    In The Days 2008

  • I would have liked to see more information on the screen, how bright it is in daylight, what that resolution looks like on a 14″ and also battery life.

    System 76 Lemur Review | jonobacon@home 2010

  • "I ain't ben a-burnin 'daylight sence navigation closed; an' if they set up all night they won't be up early enough in the mornin 'to git ahead of Dave Harney -- even on a sugar proposition."

    CHAPTER 10 2010

Comments

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