Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
daylight . - noun slang Eyes.
- noun mental soundness,
wits , consciousness.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Thus encouraged, Mr. Appel declared that he wished he would not fry the ham to chips and boil the "daylights" out of the coffee.
The Dude Wrangler Caroline Lockhart 1916
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Not dreaming of any danger in that direction, the robber only thought of guarding his "daylights" against the hornbill upon the wing.
The Cliff Climbers A Sequel to "The Plant Hunters" Mayne Reid 1850
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If that were not ostracism enough, the women -- depicted so often as shy and demure in gauzy works of fiction with titles like that of Lee's play -- begin taking turns beating the daylights out of her.
Review: 'Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven' at Studio Theatre Peter Marks 2010
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Nobody would take seriously a big brute of a bully who beat the daylights out of an innocent bystander, and then claimed he was victimized because he scraped his knuckles.
Jeff Schweitzer: The Faux Rage About a False War on Christmas Jeff Schweitzer 2011
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You guys beat the [daylights] out of me, and it kept me humble.
A mayor from the past ponders Gray's future Courtland Milloy 2010
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It's that time of year when little kids pull on masks and troll the neighborhood for candy, while adults overspend on costumes and thousands from all over Southern California flock to theme parks to have the daylights scared out of them.
Glenn D. Braunstein, M.D.: Boooooooo! What Tricks, Treats Terrify You? M.D. Glenn D. Braunstein 2011
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I have also used the daylights out of 3-9x scopes for general deer, antelope and coyote hunting.
I am interested in buying a Leupold scope for my Remington 700 in 30-06. 2009
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Nobody would take seriously a big brute of a bully who beat the daylights out of an innocent bystander, and then claimed he was victimized because he scraped his knuckles.
Jeff Schweitzer: The Faux Rage About a False War on Christmas Jeff Schweitzer 2011
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I have also used the daylights out of 3-9x scopes for general deer, antelope and coyote hunting.
I am interested in buying a Leupold scope for my Remington 700 in 30-06. 2009
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It's that time of year when little kids pull on masks and troll the neighborhood for candy, while adults overspend on costumes and thousands from all over Southern California flock to theme parks to have the daylights scared out of them.
Glenn D. Braunstein, M.D.: Boooooooo! What Tricks, Treats Terrify You? M.D. Glenn D. Braunstein 2011
knitandpurl commented on the word daylights
As in "to scare the living daylights out of" someone. David Crystal writes about this in By Hook or By Crook as follows: "The plural of daylight is known from the eighteenth century. Henry Fielding is the first recorded user, in Chapter 10 of his novel Amelia. During a lively piece of prison table-talk we hear one woman say of another, who has called her a 'good woman': 'Good woman! I don't use to be so treated. If the lady says such another word to me, d—n me, I will darken her daylights.' 'Black her eyes,' we would say these days. Daylights was slang for 'eyes'." (p 71)
Crystal goes on to talk about how "daylights" then came to mean other vital organs, not just they eyes, and says that "the living daylights" "seems to have arisen in the late nineteenth century. It became popular about fifty years later" (ibid.).
December 15, 2008